LJ and the Gang Meet Garfield
by PerkyGoth14
Summary: Ambrose tells his friends about a world revolving around newspaper comic strips. They soon visit this world together and meet beloved cat comic star Garfield along with Odie and Jon. While there, Garfield gets tired of being a comic strip character and decides to go into the real world with the young adventure group along with the kids from Baby Blues who want excitement and fun.
1. Chapter 1

"Behold!" Ambrose's voice proclaimed before he ran inside to see the Schwartz family.

"Uh...?" LJ and Zofia blinked.

"My dad has a place he wants you guys to visit." Ambrose told them as he had something in his hands.

"What's THIS?" asked the two kids.

"It's another world," Ambrose smiled, cracking it open to show them a different world. "They call it Comic Strip World."

"Clever..." Zofia said.

"Apparently newspaper comics you see all the time are made in this world and then sent into our world, The Real World," Ambrose pointed out to them. "See? There's Garfield and Odie."

LJ gave an impressed whistle. "Cool..." he remarked. "Should we go get the others?"

"If you think that would be alright," Ambrose said. "Dad says your friends are welcome to come. He asked me to come to you guys because he and Mom are busy. They had to go to the Netherworld for something of upmost importance."

"Oh...well, okay," LJ replied. "I'll go call the others."

"You do that." Ambrose replied.

"Thanks, Brose, are you coming with us?" Zofia asked.

"Well... I guess I could..." Ambrose paused before smirking. "Am I allowed?"

"If you want to." LJ replied.

"Well, Mom and Dad said I wasn't invited to their emergency, so why not?" Ambrose said.

"I hope everything's okay." Zofia said.

"Me too..." Ambrose nodded.

* * *

A cut shot was shown, showing Drell and Hilda at the Netherworld Spa together, relaxing and having some alone time together since Ambrose wasn't with them so they could take a little break for just the two of them.

* * *

"Eh, whatever it is, they can handle it," LJ shrugged. "Now let's go call the others!"

"Yeah!" Zofia and Ambrose beamed.

And so, they called their friends to reach out to their own adventure group, though not everybody could make it.

"Garfield?" Akito pondered. "Vincent, didn't you say your cat's brother was Garfield?"

"I think so... Weird..." Vincent replied. "I might go, I dunno."

"So...izzat a yay or nay?" asked LJ.

"Eh, might as well," Vincent shrugged. "I'm curious of this Comic Strip World."

"Superlative!" LJ replied. "See you there!"

The three soon waited by the front door to await the others who would join them on this journey.

"Just imagine... A comic strip world..." Zofia said, looking through the book. "You think we'll meet the kids from Baby Blues?"

"Probably," LJ replied. "It's a given."

"This is amazing, Ambrose." Zofia said.

"Why, thank you!" Ambrose beamed brightly. "I can tell this will be an interesting adventure."

"Let's hope so." replied LJ.

* * *

Eventually, the Fudos came with Raul, Kimberly, and Chrissy.

"Dib and Gaz went to some Scientist Convention with their dad." Raul told the Schwartz kids.

"Ah, well," LJ shrugged. "Maybe they'll find some way to have fun...after all, Dib still has Giffany."

"Yeah, I think he asked her to come along." Raul replied.

"Luckily, we're here too," Vincent told LJ and Zofia. "Hey, Ambrose."

"Hey." Ambrose waved.

"Alright, everyone who's available is here!" LJ replied. "And... I think Martin, Jenny, and that Sara Simple kid should be coming in awhile."

"How ARE Martin and Sara anyway?" Estelle smiled.

"Seems to be going well," Zofia replied. "Martin told us how much fun they had with Frosty the Snowman."

"Yeah, must've had one heck of a time." Raul replied.

Eventually, the Mazinsky twins came with Sara.

"Ah, speaking of which." Estelle said.

"A comic book world, huh?" Sara asked. "Well, I'm more open-minded than my mother."

"Great!" Martin beamed. "This is gonna be loads of fun!"

"Uh, thanks for inviting us, guys." Jenny said to the others.

"Sure thing, Jen M," Vincent said. "Oh, sorry, saying that since I'm with Jenny Foxworth and all."

"We get it, no problem." The others assured him.

"So is everyone going here then?" Ambrose asked.

"Yeah, it sure looks like it." Akito replied.

"Okay, good," Ambrose replied as he soon showed a ticket wrapped around his neck with a lanyard. "Now my dad said that a special train from the Netherworld would be coming in to bring us to where we need to go as long as I keep this ticket handy so we can use his Nether Credits."

Everyone nodded in response.

"Nice to know your father's legacy still lives on, even though Dad took over after his retirement." Estelle said to Ambrose.

"I thought though that _you_ would take over after his retirement." Akito then said.

"Can't help it," Ambrose replied. "I didn't want the responsibility. Besides, you and your dad were pretty good in the competition against Cassandra and Portia."

"I dunno about that situation, but okay." LJ replied.

* * *

They soon waited for the train to come.

"So, anyone hear about that place called Camp Campbell?" Ambrose asked.

"I believe they call it 'Camp Camp' now." Jenny replied.

"I think that Coop Burtonburger kid went there for the summer..." LJ replied.

"You ever think we might see him again?" Zofia wondered. "He seemed pretty interesting."

"That's for sure," LJ replied. "And...probably."

They continued to wait, and soon, the train came over.

"All aboard!" The conductor called out. "Express Train headed straight for Comic Strip World!"

"Come on, let's go!" Ambrose told the others, showing the conductor his ticket with Nether Credits for them to use.

The kids climbed aboard.

"You're clear." The conductor told Ambrose.

"Thanks!" Ambrose beamed as he came on board with his friends.

* * *

And soon the train took off into the comic-book realm. As they went through a portal, leaving their own world, they seemed to pass through a swirling vortex which showed various comic characters in their panels with speech balloons, thought bubbles, and symbols used to replace swearing.

"This is weird." Estelle said.

"I kinda like it though." Jenny replied.

"I'm not sure what I think." Sara commented.

"It's kinda trippy... But also fun." Martin replied.

"Uh, is there any reason your old man wants us to meet Garfield and Odie?" Zofia soon asked their young warlock friend.

"Huh? Oh, yeah!" Ambrose replied. "Garfield is thinking of leaving Comic Strip World."

"Considering how monotonous his life has gotten?" asked Vincent. "I don't really blame him."

"Yeah, that's what I'm getting from it." Ambrose nodded.

Everyone murmured in agreement.

"Looks like this is it." Ambrose said before seeing a glowing star burst.

* * *

Soon, the glow overcast all of them, sending them into another world.

"I can't believe I have to take you to see my Uncle Jon." Mandy glared at Billy as they traveled down the block.

"And all while Grim is at the Underworld Ta-vern, too," Billy replied. "What does 'drinking to forget your regrets' mean, Mandy?"

"It means I can't wait until I start doing that once I'm 21." Mandy narrowed her eyes.

A black-haired boy looked to them.

"Hey, kid, you know a Jon Arbunkle?" Mandy asked him.

"Uh... Isn't that the guy who lives next-door to the MacPhersons and the Bittermans?" The boy replied.

Mandy looked at him a bit impatiently.

"Uh, yeah, I know where he is..." The boy then said nervously. "Erm... My name's Bogart."

"Okay, lead us to him." Mandy replied.

"Erm... Yes, ma'am..." Bogart said as he led the way.

"Come on, Pinhead." Mandy said, dragging Billy behind them.

"Uh, is your brother okay?" Bogart asked.

"He's NOT my brother." replied Mandy.

"Oh... Uh... Are you dating?" Bogart asked.

"GET REAL!" Mandy huffed. "He's my friend."

"Heh... If you say so..." Bogart grinned nervously.

"I mean it," Mandy replied. "And if you say otherwise, I'll rip your arms off and shove them up your butt."

Bogart let out a small gulp from that.

As they were wandering off, they soon saw a train in front of three houses.

"DAD! There's a train in the front yard!" A brunette boy called out from his bedroom window.

"RODNEY, STOP TRYING TO GET OUT OF YOUR CHORES!" A loud, grouchy voice snapped.

"Yeesh..." Bogart winced.

"What the...?" Billy and Mandy both looked confused, seeing the train.

* * *

Ambrose soon came out of the train with the group so that they could meet Garfield.

"Welp, here we are: Comic World!" LJ exclaimed.

Ambrose soon led his friends out of the train. Once they were all out, the train soon took off into the sky like in a science-fiction movie, back into the Netherworld. Bogart's eyes widened from that and he soon fainted in the middle of the ground beside Billy and Mandy.

"Whoa, he's a really good sleeper!" Billy laughed.

"Billy and Mandy?" Akito and Estelle asked.

"Yep," Mandy rolled her eyes. "You adventure twins, the kids of Ace Detective Atticus Fudo."

"Also us too," replied LJ, Zofia, Martin, Jenny, Raul, Ambrose and Sara.

"Great..." Mandy crossed her arms.

"What're you doing here?" Jenny asked.

"Visiting my Uncle Jon," Mandy rolled her eyes. "My parents thought I needed some fresh air."

"Also, minus one Reaper." noted Kimberly and Chrissy.

"Grim's in a Ta-Vern, drowning his sorrows," replied Billy. "Or something like that."

"Yeah, pretty much." Mandy rolled her eyes.

The kids from the houses next door soon came out, curiously. Both had houses with three kids, but one of them had two boys and a girl and the other had two girls and a boy.

"You kids got starin' problems?!" Mandy glared.

"I haven't seen them before." The black-haired boy told the older redheaded girl who was his sister.

"Maybe they're aliens." The brunette boy smirked to his younger siblings, a brown-haired girl and a blonde boy.

"Or maybe they just moved in." replied a kid with spiky black hair, a blue-and-yellow t-shirt, and jeans.

"Well, I'M visiting my uncle, I don't know what these dorks are up to." Mandy glowered.

"I'll have you know that I invited them here." Ambrose told the evil little girl.

"Yeah, so chew on THAT!" LJ smirked.

Mandy growled with fire in her eyes. The brown-haired girl soon yelped and hid behind her older brother while her younger brother narrowed his eyes, waving out what looked like a green baseball bat in a threatening and warning way at Mandy for scaring his sister.

"Is that supposed to scare me?" Mandy scoffed.

LJ shrugged. Mandy soon went to go up to the front door.

* * *

While that was happening, a certain orange cat was seen asleep in his bed. He soon saw the sunlight coming from out the window and soon put the blind down to make it seem like it was still night time so that he could still go to sleep only for the blind to go back up, so he tried to move his bed. Unfortunately, the blinds shot up yet again. Garfield soon went to find a dark corner in his room to block out the sunlight, and soon did so he could go back to sleep. In the kitchen, there was Jon as he was cooking since he was already up and about. He flipped three eggs and did a few maneuvers to put them on the plate. An excited dog soon came out, panting over to his human as he entered the kitchen.

"Good morning, Odie!" Jon smiled to his dog.

Odie barked and jumped in excitement.

"Are you hungry, boy?" Jon smiled as his dog barked to him. "Atta boy! Breakfast is nearly ready. We'll eat as soon as I I arouse 'Mr. Grumpy'," He was about to call out until he heard the doorbell. "Huh? Who could that be?" He went and opened the door. "Oh, morning, Mandy! And you brought your little friends too!" Jon exclaimed.

"Hi, Uncle Jon." Mandy forced herself to say.

"You're early," Jon said to her. "I thought you weren't coming until tomorrow."

"Guess the Endsville city bus had other plans." Mandy replied.

"Well, since you're here you might as well come on in!" Jon replied, letting the kids inside.

The others soon followed after Mandy.

"And I see you brought your boyfriend." Jon said, seeing Billy.

"WHAT?!" Mandy scowled. "Not even in HIS dreams!"

"Besides, Billy is barely a friend, let alone a boyfriend," added Martin. "He's too dimwitted to understand the concept of relationships, anyways!"

"Well, I can make more breakfast," Jon smiled before calling out. "Garfield! Breakfast!"

"Well, what do you know? I guess every cloud does have a silver lining." Garfield mumbled to himself before he got up, hitting his head on a shelf, causing books to topple down on him before the other shelves soon fell onto him, hitting him with a bit of Murphy's Law.

Sara blinked. "Anybody hear that?" she asked, turning her attention to the small hallway.

"You mean the crashing and the bashing and the hurting?" Billy asked.

"Yeah?" Sara replied.

"No, not really." Billy then said.

Sara looked unimpressed from that answer. Eventually, Garfield stumbled into the kitchen, looking none-the-worse-for-wear, but a little scuffed up.

"He looks like me when I oversleep for school." Billy laughed idiotically.

"Oh, my..." Jon frowned a bit before perking up to his cat as he came into the room. "Good morning, Garfield!"

"'Good morning? _Good_ morning'?" Garfield scoffed as he stumbled into the kitchen. "Jon, it's Monday. Monday is the armpit of the week."

"He makes a good point," LJ shrugged. "Monday IS a pretty crummy day."

"It's like a black hole in the counter that just sucks all the joy out of our entire being!" Garfield cried out.

"That sounds like something my mother would say." Zofia said to herself.

LJ nodded in response.

"Lighten up, Garfield, you're the star of a comic strip!" Jon smiled to his cat as he served breakfast.

"Work is the big part of the problem." Garfield mumbled as he grabbed the ketchup bottle.

"Well, you better cheer up fast, pal, because we leave for work in 20 minutes." Jon smiled.

Garfield tried to squirt ketchup on his food, but it spilled all over his breakfast, making him sigh. "I can just cry."

"Well, I figure you'll have to do it on your own time." replied Jenny.

"Say, kids, wanna come to Comix Studios with us?" Jon offered. "Garfield's got a comic strip to do today."

"Oh, sure, that sounds cool." Zofia replied.

"Alright!" LJ replied. "That oughta be fun to watch!"

* * *

Eventually after eating breakfast, everyone went off in Jon's car.

"So, who were those kids next door?" Mandy asked.

"Depends on what you mean, but those were the Bittermans and the MacPhersons," Jon replied. "They're from the comic strip called Baby Blues. The MacPhersons, Zoe, Hammie, and Wren, are usually the main stars with their parents, Darryl and Wanda, though sometimes, the Bittermans, Rodney, Megan, Shelby, Carl, and Melinda appear once in a while. The Bittermans actually had their own thing going for a while, but they were soon homeless, and they found a new life in our world since they knew the MacPherson family pretty well."

"Oh, okay," Martin shrugged. "Pretty neat."

A superhero soon flew by.

"Wow!" Akito beamed from the superhero.

"Good morning!" Jon greeted the superhero.

The superhero smiled and waved before he soon got caught in some powerlines before he soon fell to the road.

A green cat was running after two mice who'd stolen some cheese.

"Hello there!" Jon waved.

The cat turned and smiled back, until he ran into a fire hydrant and fell over.

"Ooh." Some of the kids winced from that.

A certain kitten was then shown to be talking with a female cat.

"There they are." Arlene told Nermal.

"Morning, guys!" Nermal said as Jon stopped the car to let them in.

"Uh, why don't you sit in the back, Odie?" Garfield smirked, throwing Odie in the backseat to be with Nermal.

"Good morning, Garfield." Arlene waved as the orange cat smiled.

"Good morning, Arlene," he replied. "Hey, why don't you sit up here with-"

But before he could finish, Nermal had leapt into the empty spot between Garfield and Jon.

"Hiya, Garfield!" he exclaimed.

"Get in the back, Nermal." snapped Garfield.

Sara giggled a bit from Nermal's antics.

"I'll just sit in back." Arlene smiled as she soon went to the back, much to Garfield's chagrin.

"Buckle up, kids." Jon told Arlene and Nermal as they then continued their drive to the studio."

"This is gonna be a long drive." Garfield sighed to himself.

"Hey, Garfield!" said Nermal. "Guess what day it is?"

"I know what day it is, Nermal." Garfield grumbled.

"Oh, c'mon, guess!" The kitten replied.

"Nermal..." Garfield groaned.

"I guess you don't know." Nermal shrugged.

"It's Monday..." Garfield replied.

"At least it isn't that old Hump Day commercial from GEICO." Mandy rolled her eyes.

"Nope, that's Wednesday!" Billy giggled to her.

"It's whaaaat?" Nermal smiled to Garfield.

"Monday!" Garfield repeated in annoyance.

"And... You hate Mondays!~" Nermal said before singing. "M to the Ondays! You hate 'em! You hate 'em! Yeah!"

"Not as much as I hate you, Nermal." Garfield grumbled.


	2. Chapter 2

The car kept on driving until they reached a giant building which had a huge picture of Garfield and Odie on the front of it.

"This must be the place." noted Martin.

"Yep, I'd guess so." Sara nodded.

"Hey, Jack." Jon greeted the gate attendant.

"Howdy." The gate attendant greeted back.

The gate was open and they had reached the studio and began to park. Shortly after, they exited the car and went into the studio, entering through a room full of comic-strip characters.

"This is crazy..." Mandy commented.

"This is like the time we met the Powerpuff Girls!" Billy beamed.

"Kids Next Door, Billy." Mandy corrected with an eye roll.

"Same thing." Billy shrugged.

"Except not," LJ replied. "Also, these guys don't want you two dead, unlike the KND. But let's try to keep it that way."

"This is like Aunt Cherry's friend's comic book store." Vincent commented.

"Yeah... It's incredible..." Estelle added.

"Has anyone seen my cupcakes?" A white mouse in a dress with a black bow asked.

Eventually, a plate of cupcakes were shown before a small mouse boy in overalls popped out, ruining the platter.

"SQUEAK!" The mouse complained to him.

"Sorry, Babymouse." The younger mouse pouted.

"It's amazing!" remarked LJ. "It's downright...miraculous."

"Words can't describe how awesome this place seems." Sara beamed.

"Good morning, Billy Bear!" Jon waved to a large grizzly bear.

"That's muh name, don't wear it out!" The bear replied jovially.

"I feel like there's some folks here I don't recognize." Zofia commented.

"Joe, would it kill ya to watch the kids?" A blonde woman glared to her brown-haired husband.

"...A little bit?" The lazy brown-haired man replied.

The woman sighed sharply to him as they looked to their three kids: an older brown-haired girl, the middle child was a blonde tomboy, and their youngest was a toddler boy who had Bart Simpson-like hair.

"Okay, I can't say I really recognize those ones..." LJ replied.

"Hello, Liz, hello, Joe." Jon greeted the Larson couple.

"Hello, Jon." The couple replied.

"They sound like they're about to fall asleep." Jenny commented.

The other kids agreed on that.

"How ya doin', Randy Rabbit?" Jon smiled to the rabbit.

"Well, I'm fantaaastic!" The rabbit beamed.

"Man, here we go," Garfield sighed to himself, passing by someone known as Dagwood who carried a very tall sandwich before coming to a grim looking woman. "Zelda, Zelda, Zelda, how's my favorite catering wench today?" he then asked as she poured coffee into a cup. "What's your poison du'jour?"

"Cat Creole," The woman replied. "Care for some?"

"Ever thought of just letting your hair down?" Garfield suggested.

"Bah!" Zelda scoffed from that.

"I bet you'd be a heart-breaker, Baby Cakes." Garfield smirked before meowing to her.

LJ and Zofia shrugged as they went to sit down at a table.

"That's quite a nose on that woman." Akito whispered about a blue-haired woman who had a pointy nose.

"Reminds me of Gru." Estelle replied.

"Did we meet him?" asked LJ. "I'm not 100% on whether we did or didn't."

"Our dad, your mom, and Aunt Darla did," Vincent told LJ. "I think maybe your dad did later on."

"Um...okay," LJ shrugged, confused. "Dunno when that was since the story isn't up."

"It's complicated." Akito said with a look into the fourth wall.

"Isn't it, though?" LJ shrugged.

"Walter, please." The woman complained to the man as he played his accordion.

"Sorry, dear." The husband replied in a Droopy Dog voice.

"Why must you always be fiddling with things?" The woman glared. "I mean why can't you just sit quietly like a good husband?"

"Yes, dear." The husband replied.

"Poor guy..." LJ remarked.

"Yo, Wally." Garfield greeted the tiny man.

"Hey, Garfield." Wally smiled to the cat.

"So what's the world's greatest inventor up to today?" Garfield asked.

"Watch." Wally replied, showing as his accordion stretched over to a cookie and a robot hand grabbed it.

Wally's wife put her hand on her plate only to see that it was empty which confused her. "I thought I had another cookie."

"Hey, where can I get one of those?" Garfield chuckled.

"I'll put you on the list." replied Wally.

"Contrary to popular belief, nose blowing is an art," Billy Bear said to the others. "Let me demonstrate. The toot." he then blew his nose on a handkerchief and out came a trumpet.

"Not bad." Jon smiled.

"Oh, man. I gotta get out of this place." Garfield groaned to himself.

"Dunno... I wanna see where he goes with this." LJ replied.

"The whoopee cushion." Billy Bear smiled before inflating his head and blows through the handkerchief."

Jon chuckled from that. "I love it when he does that."

As Billy Bear continued to demonstrate his multiple ways to blow his nose, Garfield tossed his cup into the trash can, whose frog tongue quickly snatched it out of the air and ate it.

"Is that a Frog Trash Can?" Sara asked.

"Looks like it." Jenny shrugged.

"Well, it's pretty clever." Martin replied.

"And my fave, the Party Blow Out." Billy Bear smiled before blowing his nose on the handkerchief and it made different horn noises. Soon, the handkerchief landed on Wally's wife. "Thar she blows!"

"You are disgusting!" Wally's wife groaned.

"Now you're gettin' it." Billy Bear smiled.

Billy clapped and laughed from that while Mandy looked disgusted and annoyed.

"Walter, let's go!" Wally's wife demanded.

"Yes, dear." Wally replied.

Everyone else snickered about that as the two exited the room.

"Well, I'll give Dad one thing, this world is pretty cool." Ambrose shrugged.

"That's for certain." LJ nodded.

Everyone soon got some quick snacks as it seemed to be a busy time being a comic book character.

"Look! Here comes Betty and the kids!" Randy Rabbit alerted everyone as he saw someone coming. "Everyone, act naturally."

* * *

Everyone then went back to acting normally as a woman soon came in with the kids from Baby Blues who the adventure group had seen earlier.

"Good morning, everyone." The woman known as Betty greeted.

Everyone responded in their own ways. The Baby Blues kids were soon giving out scripts, even Baby Wren.

"Say, where's Randy Rabbit?" Megan wondered.

"I think he got squashed from the door." Rodney smirked to his sister.

Randy fell over from behind the door, flattened.

"Told ya," Rodney smirked. "Now he's a 'bun-cake'."

Megan soon giggled as she found her older brother funny.

"Oh! Randy! Oh, my dear heavens," Betty cooed to the flattened bunny as he soon tried to come out and reassemble himself. "I didn't see you there. Oh, sweetheart, I'm so, so sorry."

"Man, he looks like he stepped into Pearls Before Swine." Zoe commented.

Randy bit into his thumb and re-inflated himself, bloating up like a balloon.

"Heh. Cartoon physics." Akito chuckled once he saw that.

"Ooh! That was a good one, guys." Betty giggled.

Mandy rolled her eyes a bit from the woman. Garfield soon sulked on the couch all by himself.

"Are you okay, Garfield?" Arlene asked the orange cat.

Garfield just sighed in response.

"You seem to be depressed." Arlene said as she soon sat down next to him.

"I prefer to think of it as being... Pensive." Garfield replied.

"Well, if pensive means 'being a butt', then I'll go with that." Arlene replied.

"I'm just tired of doing the comic strip," Garfield sighed. "Going through the same routine every day. Hearing the same tired jokes every day. Every day. Oh, man. A change of scenery would be wonderful. I need a break."

"A break from me?" asked Arlene.

"This isn't about you, Arlene," replied Garfield. "This is about me!"

"You ever notice that it's _always_ about you?" asked Arlene.

Akito and Estelle glanced to each other before rolling their eyes a bit from the pink cat. Shelby and Wren soon pushed a dolly together that had a box of props which included flowers, giving the lazy orange cat an idea as he snuck one behind his back.

"Oh, what do we have here?" Garfield smiled innocently to Arlene before bringing out a rose to her.

"Oh... Garfield, how sweet!" Arlene beamed, smelling the rose. "And here I am, being all paranoid!"

"Hey, paranoia's good!" Garfield replied. "Nobody should take a good-"

An old man soon rode in, interrupting Garfield and Arlene's little moment together.

"Oh, how 'bout that?" Garfield smiled nervously to Arlene before climbing up over the couch to leave. "Time to go to work."

"Here ya go, Betty!" said the old man, handing Betty a stack of paper.

"Thanks," she replied. "The scripts are here, everyone!"

"That's right!" Zoe called out to the others. "We have a comics page to get out!"

"That means you too, Big Mouth." Hammie smirked.

"Shut up, you bug!" Zoe glared at her little brother.

Martin shrugged. "Same old, same old."

"Sibling Rivalry..." Jenny rolled her eyes.

The group watched as the comic characters started reading over their scripts.

"You can see me work." Jon smiled to his niece.

"Yippee." Mandy muttered.

"Might as well see how the comic book world works." Ambrose suggested.

"That ought to be fun," replied Sara.

"I think so too." Jenny nodded.

* * *

They were shown to be in front of a stage like they were actors and there was even a director.

"This should be good." Zofia replied.

"Tempus fugit, people," The director called. "Today, I need Garfield and Odie."

"Are you sure I'm not in the script?" Nermal piped up.

"Did I ask for Nermal to step forward?" The director scoffed before facing his personal assistant. "Keith, did the name 'Nermal' escape my lips?"

"I don't think so." The man replied.

"There you go. I don't think so." The director then told the kitten.

"Awww." Nermal pouted to that.

"Guess that would be Garfield's time to shine." replied Zofia.

"Where IS he, anyways?" asked LJ.

"Great, he's loose." Akito grumbled a bit.

"I'm sure he's not that far away." Estelle guessed.

Just then, the group heard snoring.

"Guess we found him." Kimberly replied.

The group soon came up to see Garfield as he seemed to be sleeping on the job.

"Prop Boy!" The director soon called out.

"Uh, yes. You called, sir?" The Prop Boy replied as he soon walked over.

"The script calls for a bone." The director requested.

"A bone. Let's see," The Prop Boy said, checking his pockets, unable to find the bone. "Uh, I'll be back in one second," he then ran off and soon returned with a bone, giving it to Odie. "Hey, don't get too attached to that bone, you two. It's the official property of the prop department."

Odie whimpered at that, clutching the bone tightly.

"Come on, Garfield, wake up." Zofia told the lazy cat.

"Can Jon do my lines today?" Garfield yawned. "I need a nap."

"How about the sooner I tell you to do, the sooner you get to take a nap?" The director suggested.

"Why do I put up with this?" Garfield then groaned.

"Because you don't really have a choice?" replied LJ. "Sorry, dude."

Garfield let out a groan as he came to participate in the comic strip.

"Well, this is definitely interesting to witness." Jenny commented.

"Alright, let's shoot, people!" said the director. "Eli, bring up the park set!"

"You got it." The worker replied once he was called on, doing what was asked of him.

* * *

The three kids from_ 'Committed'_ soon walked over.

"Tracey, Zelda, Nicholas, what're you doing here?" Zoe asked them.

"Mom and Dad are fighting again 'cuz Dad was watching the supermodels on The Price is Right." Zelda rolled her eyes.

"Nicholas BE model!" Nicholas giggled out of excitement as he posed.

"Same old, same old..." sighed LJ in mild irritance.

"Yeah, it's totally unfair!" Tracey pouted. "It's worse than when Mom said I couldn't go to Cheerleading Camp!"

"Or when she wouldn't let me go to a Saucy Boys concert." Zelda added.

"Wasn't that concert going to be in Hawaii?" Zoe replied.

Zelda glared. "You're not helping."

"Well, I'm already bored of these three..." LJ grunted.

"Are we ready to shoot?" The director asked.

"I don't think you can without your star." Raul replied.

"Huh?" The director replied before looking around. "Where is Garfield?" he then saw the fat lazy cat sitting on a box before calling out to him. "Garfield, get over here!"

"I really need a break." Garfield sighed as he soon went to go on up on stage.

"Places, people!" the director called as Garfield walked over to hold Odie's leash. "AC-TION!"

"Odie and I enjoy each other's company." Garfield began.

"Take it," The director said before a picture was taken. "Bring up the roller-coaster set."

"Coming up." Eli replied as the set became a roller-coaster set with a fan in front.

"Ooh..." The adventure group said as they saw how a comic strip was made in this world before their very eyes.

The fan was turned on to simulate the effect of being on a roller-coaster.

"Whether it's going to an amusement park..." said Garfield as the picture was snapped.

"Bring up the kitchen set." The director then said.

"Yes, sir." Eli replied.

Garfield and Odie were now on a table in the kitchen set.

"Action!" The director then said.

"Or just getting together for kicks." Garfield said before kicking Odie off of the table.

"Take it," The director said as another picture was soon taken. "Perfect."

Odie then snuck off with the prop bone in his mouth.

"Guess that's the end of it." Sara replied.

"That's a wrap on Garfield," The director told his workers. "Keep moving, people. We have two more scripts to do."

"I suppose we're gonna do the usual annoying little brother to his big sister one-shot gag?" Zoe guessed.

"Actually, you're thinking on whether to take Rodney or Bogart to the school dance while Hammie teases you." The director replied.

"Rodney Bitterman?!" Zoe gulped. "Erm... Why would I like him? He's... He's a jerk."

"Guess that could be interesting...but not by much." Martin shrugged.

Zoe glared a bit while blushing.

"I thought you liked Rodney?" Hammie smirked to his sister.

"We're just friends." Zoe grumbled as she nearly turned as red as her hair.

"On with the show, people!" Jenny called out.

Garfield soon went to see his canine companion. "Sup, Dog?"

Odie was soon hugging the prop bone like he was in love.

"Aw, you're in love with the bone." Garfield realized.

Odie nodded.

"And you don't want the Prop Boy to take it back, do you?" asked Garfield.

Odie shook his head in response.

"Come on, Odie, give that bone back," Zofia said as she came over. "It doesn't belong to you."

"What would a smart dog do with that bone?" Garfield asked Odie, holding the bone out of his reach.

"I don't know." Odie shrugged.

"Did... Odie just... Talk...?" Zofia asked. "I don't remember that happening."

"Well, it was like a muttering noise," LJ replied. "Even he's not completely stupid."

"Ah, well, I guess I just never noticed before," Zofia said. "Like when no one understood Scooby-Doo except for maybe Shaggy."

"That and the TV viewers," replied LJ. "I mean you can kinda tell what he's saying."

"Probably why they dropped it later on." Zofia guessed.

LJ nodded in response.

"A smart dog would hide it from the prop boy," Garfield told Odie. "Good luck."

Odie soon took his bone back out of excitement.

* * *

Shelby was seen walking up to the vending machine and soon whacked it with his bat just because he could. Sara blinked at that and just shrugged.

"Having fun, Sara?" Jenny asked.

"To be honest?" replied Sara. "Yeah, I am."

"Oh... Good..." Jenny smiled. "I was worried you were probably getting bored."

"Nah, not by much," Sara said. "Everything does seem kinda weird, though...but it doesn't really faze me."

"I guess after seeing a magical, talking snowman, what is normal and weird anymore, right?" Jenny guessed.

"Fair point." Sara replied.

Shelby continued to beat down on the vending machine.

"Why do you have to beat up that vending machine?" Zofia asked.

Shelby soon glanced back at her before having wide eyes to her which made him drop his bat as he nearly looked like he was in love.

"Whuh-oh..." Zofia gulped. "I was just asking a question, that's all."

Shelby looked up and down to her as he dropped his bat.

"Yo, Shel, you dropped your bat," Rodney told his younger brother, handing it over. "You okay, man?"

Shelby looked to and from him. "...I'm not sure." he then verbally spoke.

"Whoa... Did you just talk?!" asked Rodney. "This MUST be serious."

"He doesn't usually talk?" Zofia asked.

"Not really." Rodney replied.

"Guess something motivated him?" LJ asked as he came to get something to eat.

Shelby glanced over to Zofia who just glanced back in confusion.

"Must be it," Rodney shrugged. "He's just never talked as far as I remember."

"Weird." Ambrose commented as he joined LJ.

"Sure is..." LJ replied. "Maybe we can find some lunch somewhere..."

"Wanna come to Gary's Pizza Shop?" Hammie invited. "It's like the only good thing to come out of 'Committed'."

"Hmm... Okay." LJ replied.

"He's a pretty cool guy," Hammie smiled. "Sometimes he gives us advice."

They soon left the comic studio to get some pizza together.

"Shouldn't you guys get back for your comic?" Zofia asked.

"Ah, they don't need us for a while," Rodney replied. "Zoe keeps flubbing on her lines."

"I DO NOT!" Zoe glared.

"You sure do," Rodney smirked. "Especially whenever we have a scene together. What's up with that?"

Zoe blushed and coughed. "That's not important." she replied.

Rodney just rolled his eyes.

"Mr. Director, can we get pizza?" Megan asked.

"Hmm... I guess you could do that since this week's story arc is about the parents." The director replied.

"All right!" Megan beamed. "C'mon, guys, let's call Bizzy!"

"Bizzy!" The Baby Blues kids cheered.

"Bizzy?" The others asked out of confusion.

"Who or what is a Bizzy?" asked Chrissy.

"Oh, Bizzy's the coolest!" Zoe beamed.

"Bizzy's the awesomest!" Hammie added.

Wren soon babbled as she tried to include with her older siblings.

"She's adventurous!" Rodney added.

"She's very pretty~" Megan smiled, daydreaming about growing up to look like a pretty teenage girl.

"And she's here with her car." A voice said before the others turned to see a girl with long blonde hair in a periwinkle tank-top showing her belly which had a ring on it, a pink skirt, purple punks, and a pair of pink sunglasses over her head, taking out a set of car keys in her hand.

"Lemme guess... Bizzy, right?" asked Martin.

"That's me," Bizzy said. "Uh... Who are you guys?"

"We're just visiting for the day." Jenny replied.

"You guys want pizza too?" Bizzy asked.

The others soon agreed.

"All right, I got plenty of room," Bizzy said as she soon took them out to her van. "My mom's stupid boyfriend says I gotta borrow this van until my grades improve, then he said he would buy me my very own... Brand new car!" she then announced in a game show host voice.

"Did he say it like that?" Zofia giggled. "What's he do, the next host of The Price is Right?"

"Actually, yes." Bizzy replied.

"Oh..." Zofia then said with wide eyes.

"Cool!" LJ replied. "We were going for pizza anyways, but this cuts out the middleman!"

* * *

They all soon came into the van which had plenty of room inside of it. Bizzy smiled as she helped Wren into her car-seat and kissed the baby girl on her cheek before going to the driver's seat.

"Bizzy, can I pick the radio station?" Rodney asked.

"No, Rodney, you picked it last time." Bizzy told him.

"Aw, man..." Rodney commented.

"It's Megan's turn." Bizzy said.

"That's worse!" Rodney complained.

Megan soon leaned over and picked the radio station she wanted which soon played music from The Cheetah Girls.

"**AAAAAAAAUGGGGGHHHH!**" Rodney groaned, clutching his ears.

"This is gonna be a long ride." Raul said from Rodney's reaction.

Wren giggled and cooed as she clapped her hands together.

"Yup." Martin replied to his cousin.


	3. Chapter 3

**_After a little while of driving..._**

"So, you guys aren't from around here, huh?" Bizzy asked the guests. "Well, that explains a lot."

"Yup, we came to visit!" Jenny replied. "Thought it would be neat to see how comic characters live."

"I see," Bizzy said. "Well, I hope you're having fun. It's an acquired taste... I have a feeling that Garfield cat is up to something though to get out of this world somehow."

"Well, that would explain the title." Sara replied.

They soon came into the pizza shop to see a bit of a hippie guy.

"Welcome to Gus's Pizza Shop," The owner introduced. "I'm Gus Wong, the owner and maker of pizza, and I shall serve you any kind of pizza you would require."

Each of the kids said whatever pizza they wanted. Gus smiled as he went to carry out their orders.

"He seems nice." Jenny said.

"Yeah, Gus is pretty cool." Megan smiled.

Shelby seemed to be staring at Zofia which made her look at him a bit nervously before he soon gave a big smile and waved to her as hearts seemed to come into his eyes.

"He okay?" LJ asked.

"I've never seen him act this way before." Rodney replied softly.

"Surely he's smiled before?" Jenny replied.

"No, he's always been like this." Megan said.

We were then shown shots of Shelby in his current age, to last year with a stoic frown, and even as a baby, a newborn, and even as a fetus in their mother's womb.

"Whoa... THAT is trippy." Kimberly replied.

"What's eatin' ya, man?" Rodney asked his brother.

"Stuff." Shelby said.

"You talked again!" Rodney gasped. "My brother NEVER talks!"

"Usually he talks to Mom." Megan commented.

"Other than that!" Rodney replied.

"Oh," Megan said. "Well, I wouldn't worry about it."

"Well... Okay." Kimberly replied.

Eventually, they all shared some pizza together.

"So... Zozo... You're gonna decide between Bogart and Rodney for the big school dance." Bizzy said, looking through the script.

"I don't know whose idea that was, it makes no sense to me!" Zoe said nervously.

The kids just kept on eating their pizza in response. Zoe rubbed her arm bashfully before tucking into her own pizza.

"Well, I hope you guys like Comic Strip World," Bizzy told the guests. "It's always cool to see new people in this town instead of the boring old ones all the time."

"Thanks," said Kimberly. "It's great to be here."

"At least you're having fun." Bizzy gave a small smirk before taking some pizza for herself.

The kids all nodded in response. They all continued to have some fun together. Later on, they finished and came back to the studio in case they were needed.

* * *

Eventually, the director was done making comic strips for the day, which was a relief for Garfield.

"Perfect. That's a wrap, people," The director told his workers. "Put it to bed and print it."

"Aye-Aye, Captain," Betty replied. "Right away, sir."

"Guess that's done," LJ remarked. "The strips are done for the day."

"It was cool having you guys around." Hammie said.

"That was cool!" Billy laughed. "This is gonna be a fun visit!"

"Whatever." Mandy rolled her eyes.

The comic strips were soon printed out and sent to newspapers all around the world back in the real world.

"So that's how it happens..." Raul noted.

"Huh... I never knew I wanted to know that... Interesting." Ambrose noted to himself.

Everyone murmured in agreement.

"Maybe now Garfield will settle down." Ambrose then said to the others.

* * *

They soon left the Comix Studio once they were allowed to go and people in the real world would read the newspaper comics once they would be sent in from Comic Strip World. Eventually, the kids followed Garfield into the park. Shelby kept following behind Zofia and even tried to take her hand a couple of times, but she kept retracting her hand every time.

"What a lovely day in the park!" Billy beamed. "I feel like I could sing!"

"No." Mandy narrowed her eyes.

"Zip it, Meat Chunks," LJ retorted to them both. "Let's see what happens to papers when they get delivered."

"That sounds pretty interesting," Jenny commented. "Can't say that's something I never knew I wanted to find out about."

* * *

The paper they were tracking was tossed to a house, where a man came out and got it.

The man soon came into his home to see his family as his wife was cooking. "Smells good, sweetie."

"Kids, breakfast!" The mother soon called out.

"And the funnies are here!" The father added.

The kids arrived at the dinner table.

"Alright, let's see what's going on at the comics." The father smiled to his family.

"...and Billy Bear says, 'We're fishing for pizza?'" read the father. "And what does Billy Bear say?"

"Raaawwr!" said the little boy.

* * *

"Raaaaawr!" exclaimed Billy Bear proudly. "That's Artie! He's one of my biggest fans!"

"What's it like to have fans?" Tracey asked.

"Ah, you'll understand someday... But probably not." Billy Bear seemed to smirk.

Tracey's lip quivered before she cried and ran away. "MOM! DAD!"

"Oh, give me a break." Wally's wife known as Bonita scoffed.

"Okay... That was kinda cold." Martin said.

"Hey Eli, show us some more newspapers." Nermal said.

"Yeah, check on Zoe's story arc about Bogart and Rodney." Hammie laughed.

"Knock it off!" Zoe snapped at her brother.

Hammie smirked before he soon got into a cartoon fight cloud with his older sister. Wren giggled and cooed at the chaos from her older brother and sister.

"Aw, great, they're at it again." Rodney groaned.

Eventually, the screen changed to a park.

"Whoa, whoa. Back it up." Garfield said.

The screen showed the hot dog stand.

"Eli, look over at the hot dogs and zoom in." Garfield said.

"You got it, Garfield." Eli replied as the screen zoomed to some hot dogs.

"That is one of the most beautiful sights I've ever seen." Garfield gushed as he began to daydream.

"Somehow, I'm not surprised," Sara shrugged. "Judging from what comics I could manage to read before my mom threw them out, any sight involving food is beautiful for you."

"Your mother throws comics out?" Zoe asked whilst her hair was being pulled on by her brother. "What a savage!"

"My mother isn't really... Fun oriented." Sara replied.

"Believe me, I learned that first-hand," Martin sighed. "It was...a difficult sight to witness."

"We were there." Jenny added.

"Sorry we had to miss that one." Zofia said to the Mazinsky twins.

"It's alright. You guys were busy in the future," Martin replied. "No harm, no foul."

An alarm soon went off.

"Dah! What was that?" Zofia gasped.

"And what's this doing here?" Raul wondered as he picked up the prop bone which was soon shown.

"I thought Odie was trying to hide that!" LJ replied.

"Hey, that's my bone!" The prop boy cried out.

"What's going on around here?" Ambrose narrowed his bi-colored eyes a bit.

They soon rushed over to see that Odie had gotten in trouble and there appeared to be a tear in a screen.

"That rip in the screen must be some sort of doorway between realities..." theorized LJ.

Ambrose soon took out his father's book. "I think you might be right, LJ..." he then said once he read ahead. "Any more damage with that tear, then that could suck the comic book characters into the real world!"

"We wouldn't want that, now would we?" Raul replied nervously.

"Everybody stay away from the patch in the screen or you'll end up in the real world with no way back like Odie's bone." Eli warned the others.

Darryl and Wanda soon pulled back Zoe, Hammie, and Wren while Carl and Melinda did the same with Rodney, Megan, and Shelby.

"The real world. That's the change I need." Garfield said to himself.

"Uh-oh... I think this might be the opportunity Garfield was looking for..." gulped Martin.

"Prop Boy!" Eli called out. "Bring me the special tape."

"Okay, let's see," The prop boy said, checking his pockets before running off. "Uh, just a second."

Garfield was soon going to the tear to sneak off into the real world, not letting anybody stop him.

"We'd better go after him," LJ sighed. "Who knows what sort of trouble he could get himself into?"

"Let's go with them." Zoe whispered to the other Baby Blues kids.

The kids nodded in response to that.

The Baby Blues went to sneak off with the adventure group who soon went to go with Garfield.

"Hi, Wanda, how's the baby?" Melinda asked, calmly and quietly, despite the chaos.

"Oh, Melinda, this just looks terrible!" Wanda panicked.

"What do you mean?" Melinda asked. "Your baby should be alright."

"Just... The real world... I don't think the kids could handle it." Wanda replied.

"Well, you've been raising them to prepare for the real world," explained Melinda. "Better late than never."

"Not THIS way!" Wanda replied.

"Ah, Wanda, you worry too much," Melinda smiled. "Carl and I have been parents longer than you and Darryl have. Nuthin's gonna happen to 'em, I just know it."

"I hope you're right," replied Wanda. "For their sake."

Little did they know, the kids wandered off while the adults were talking.

* * *

Eventually, everyone else soon realized that Garfield was gone which made them panic.

"Oh, no, my cat is gone and so is Mandy!" Jon panicked. "What am I gonna tell my brother and Claire?!"

Bob the dog walked by. "Ah, the human psyche. A mass of panic and secrets." he stated before he dozed off.

"What does that even mean?!" Jon asked.

"Ya know, if people just slept more, there would be fewer accidents." Bob said as he fell asleep again.

Jon just sighed and rolled his eyes.

The group yelped as they were soon sent into the real world. Ambrose took out his training wand and soon made a mattress appear to cushion the fall.

"Whoa! I'm in the real world!" Garfield beamed. "Look, I'm a real cat!"

"Well, at least you're not CGI." Zofia replied.

"Or played by Bill Murray." LJ added.

"Even though Bill Murray's voice does fit the character a little." Zofia had to admit.

"Yeah, but at least Odie's still an animated dog." LJ added.

"In some way." Zofia replied.

"Thanks for the mattress, Ambrose." Raul said.

"I had a feeling we'd have a rough landing." Ambrose replied.

"Way to think ahead." Martin nodded.

"Well, I AM pretty smart and cool." Ambrose smirked to himself.

Some of the others rolled their eyes to that.

"How'd you do that?" Rodney glared.

"Rodney Bitterman?" Ambrose asked. "Hey, gang, we got some stowaways and not just Garfield!"

"Don't tell me you all snuck along, too!" LJ exclaimed. "Oh, your parents are gonna be steamed!"

"Ah, they'll barely even know we're gone," Zoe smiled. "Bizzy can cover for us."

"Yeah... I feel like I can't trust that fully." Zofia replied.

"Here's hoping..." LJ sighed.

"Anyway... Welcome to the real world, guys." Ambrose told Garfield and the Baby Blues kids.

"Hey, cool!" Rodney laughed as he ran off with Megan and Shelby to explore.

"Oh, man. This is just the change I needed. Oh, yes!" Garfield beamed before he soon sniffed a very delicious aroma and went to follow it. "Wow. What is that smell?" he then looked up to see a cart with a bunch of hot dogs piled together and soon jumped onto the cart to eat them up.

The hot dog guy put down his newspaper to see the orange cat eating his hot dogs. "Hey, get outta here!" he shouted angrily.

"Ooh, that's not good." Megan said.

"S-Sorry, sir, we were just-" Zofia said nervously.

"Hey, brat, get outta here with your cat!" The hot dog guy glared at her.

Shelby glared at the hot dog guy for snapping at Zofia, about to use his bat, then looked around as he realized that he didn't have it on him anymore.

"Hey, nobody talks to my sister like that, you fat jerk!" LJ snapped. "Didn't your mom teach you basic manners? Oh, wait, I guess she failed at that, too, not to mention teaching you proper hygiene!"

Rodney snickered before laughing with his sister. "This guy's funny!"

"Yeah? Who are you?" The hot dog guy glared at LJ.

"I'm her brother, landfill breath!" LJ snapped. "And I suppose you've never heard of the term 'breath mint' or 'toothbrush' before!" He snatched a handful of hot dogs and angrily put down a few dollars. "GOOD DAY TO YOU, SIR!"

The hot dog guy looked a bit stunned along with angered and annoyed.

"Now that's a good brother." Jenny applauded.

LJ took a few bows, before giving Garfield some of the hotdogs. "Eat hearty, big guy." he replied.

"Thanks! You're a real pal!" Garfield beamed as he took the hot dogs with glee.

"Sure, I try." LJ shrugged.

"Thanks for sticking up for me, Brother." Zofia then said.

"It was nothing, really." LJ replied.

Zofia soon hugged him before giving him a kiss on the cheek. "You're so good~"

LJ rolled his eyes. "Yeah, yeah... Now let's go check out this 'real world'." he replied.

Zofia soon let him go as they explored as Garfield enjoyed his hot dogs very much.

"This is great. No more boring job at the comic," Garfield smiled. "No more slobbering dog to bug me. I'm free to do whatever I want. Oh, wow! Here's to my new life!" he then swallowed another hot dog whole before letting out a belch.

"Cheers!" Vincent remarked.

"Thanks, pal." Garfield said.

"Sure thing." Vincent shrugged.

"Well...so far the Real World seems pretty boring..." Kimberly had to admit.

"That's cuz you're from here." Ambrose smirked playfully.

"Give or take." Zofia commented from that.

"Guys... I think I'm gonna be sick..." Rodney said as he looked at his hands to see five fingers instead of four on each hand.

"Calm down, you lightweight," Vincent replied. "It's just an extra finger."

"Oh, you think you're so cool?" Rodney rolled his eyes. "Just 'cuz you guys are from this world, you think you can tell us what to do?"

"Basically," replied LJ. "If you want to avoid making some gigundo-sized blunder and getting into even MORE trouble, you're pretty much relying on US."

"Ah, fine, whatever." Rodney crossed his arms, rolling his eyes.

"This is weird... I'm not sure if I like it." Megan said.

"It'll be okay," Raul told her. "It's an adjustment for all of us. Besides, Garfield's probably gonna get bored in five minutes, then we can all go home."

* * *

Eventually, some crash came out along with a familiar looking dog.

"ODIE?!" The others gasped once they saw who it was.

"Oh, no you don't!" said Garfield. "You're not gonna ruin MY new life! You're going right back where you came from!" he picked him up, and pitched him right at the newspaper stand. "See ya in the funny papers, Odie!" but Odie just smacked against the screen, and slid down slowly.

Billy and Mandy both seemed to wince from that, just slightly. Odie groaned a bit from the pain, but wasn't terribly hurt.

"That didn't work," Garfield said to himself. "There must be an easier way to sending you back, Odie."

Odie groaned in dismay as he slumped over, the bone still in his mouth.

"He's fine." Mandy said.

"Wake up, Doggy, wake up!" Billy said, shaking Odie a bit.

Odie groaned in pain as he was shaken around like a rag doll.

"Billy, cut it out before PETA gets on your butt." Mandy told him.

Eventually, Billy stopped, and they continued to hang out in the park.

"Well, guys, looks like I'm stuck with you," Garfield said before hopping off of the bench with Odie to get going. "Let's find some real food to eat."

Odie nodded, and so the group walked off.


	4. Chapter 4

"Ya know it's always once upon a time in New York City~" Vincent sang to himself.

A woman was shown to be walking her dogs which were a bunch of chihuahuas before they soon saw Odie's bone and went to go and grab it away from him.

"Come on, Odie." Mandy told her uncle's dog.

Odie yelped and ran off from the horde of chihuahuas as they ran after him, dragging their owner behind on their leashes.

"Hot DOG!" Rodney laughed from that which made Megan laugh with her big brother.

"You'd think we'd find a buffet by now..." remarked Garfield, approaching a trash can.

"This IS the buffet, pal!" replied a voice from inside.

"Whoa! I didn't think they had talking trash cans in the real world..." remarked Garfield.

The lid flew off, and a gray cat with big buck teeth popped out. "I ain't no trash can, fella!" he exclaimed as he leapt out. "You must not be from this neighborhood."

"Gah!" Some of the others flinched from the new cat.

"I'm not from this world," Garfield told the gray cat. "I'm Garfield the Cat. You know, from the comic strip?"

"Uh, right," The cat replied. "Your dog friend must be Odie."

"Hey, guys, a fan." Garfield told the others.

"So we must be in New York, right?" Jenny asked.

"Yeah, that's where MY Jenny lives, along with our friend Eloise," Vincent smiled. "Though, they live in New York CITY."

Odie waved, then tauntingly shook his rear at the chihuahuas, who were futilely attempting to grab the bone.

"Same for our parents." added Martin.

"Oh, yeah, that's right," Vincent said. "Your mom's from Manhattan."

"Born and raised." Jenny replied proudly.

"Looks like Odie made some new friends." Garfield soon said.

"Well, I'm Shecky." The cat introduced himself.

"Glad to meet you, Shecky," Garfield replied. "So, uh, when do they serve dinner around here?"

"Good question," LJ replied. "Maybe we could find a restaurant or something..."

Billy soon wandered off to go and join Odie as he tried to keep the prop bone to himself as the chihuahuas went to chase after him so that they could have the prop bone for themselves. But everywhere they went, the little dogs seemed to be very persistent.

"Oh, me and my buddies are going to a dinner and a show," Shecky soon invited Garfield. "Wanna come?"

"Uh, yeah. Sure. Just as soon as I help those two out of this situation," Garfield replied before calling out to the idiot boy and his dog acquaintance. "Hey guys, throw me the bone!"

Odie soon threw the bone to Garfield and the chihuahuas followed him before putting them in a hole in the tree.

"Aww." Billy pouted once the bone was gone.

"If there's more than one way to skin a dog. Phew. Wow. Now that's a calorie burner," Garfield said before giving the bone back to Odie and Billy. "Here you go, guys. The real world is certainly more exciting than the comic world."

"Uh, sure. Whatever," Shecky shrugged. "Hey, the show begins soon."

"Sounds good," Garfield replied. "Lead on, Mr. Shecky."

* * *

And so Shecky headed off, leading Garfield and the others to a mostly-empty lot near a fence.

"Here we are, everyone." Shecky told them once they made it.

"Wow." Garfield said.

"Yarkey!" Shecky soon called out.

"Yarkey?" The kids wondered.

"Yarkey!" A cat and a dog replied as they soon came out.

"This is Waldo," Shecky introduced the dog. "He's not as bright as he looks."

"Ah, thank you." The dog smiled, taking that as a compliment.

"And this is Sheila." Shecky then introduced the other cat.

"Cheers, luvs." The cat smiled, giving them a sultry wink.

"Hiya-hiya, nice to meet you all." LJ waved.

"I'd want her covering my back in any cat fight," Shecky smirked about Shelia. "Guys, this is Garfield, and Odie along with some friends of theirs. You know, the comic strip characters? Wink wink."

"Ooh! Ooh! Ooh! I love you guys," Waldo beamed to Garfield and Odie. "I read you all the time. Just most of the pictures, you know."

"Why, thank you." Garfield replied.

"Ello, ello. Your call in the cute, darling." Shelia giggled to Garfield.

Garfield chuckled with a small smirk.

"I have a feeling that Arlene's not gonna like that." Hammie muttered to the others.

"Ah, like she's gonna know." Zoe rolled her eyes nonchalantly.

"Well, you know how they were watching us through the projector screen?" asked Martin. "They're most likely still watching...so yeah, Arlene's probably pissed."

"Wait... What?" Zoe asked with wide eyes. "That means... Mom and Dad could see us too?!"

"Probably." Martin guessed.

"In this case, I'd have to say... Yes." LJ added.

"We are so busted!" Zoe panicked.

"I thought you said Bizzy was covering for you." Zofia smirked.

"Don't get cocky!" Zoe glared at her.

"Eh." LJ shrugged.

"Welcome to Club Shecky," Shecky smiled to the others. "This is where we come for dinner and a show."

"How do you get dinner?" Jenny asked.

"We put on a show and people throw dinner at us." Shecky replied.

"Sounds rough...painful, even." Martin winced.

"This I gotta see." said Garfield with a grin.

"Allow me to demonstrate," Shecky said as he brought out a baseball mitt. "Okay Waldo, this course is yours."

"Oh, goody, goody!" Waldo beamed as he took the baseball mitt.

"Good evening, ladies and gentlemen!" Shecky announced as he soon climbed up onto the fence. "Our first performer this evening is none other than the man himself. Please welcome... Shecky! Thank you! Thank you! It's great to be back at Club Shecky. You know, a funny thing happened on the way to the fence tonight. I was run over by a milk truck. That's the first time the drinks were ever on me!"

A rimshot was then heard.

"Thank you. Thank you," Shecky smiled. "For my first number..."

"Hey, be quiet!" A man called out in annoyance. "We're trying to sleep up here!"

"I'd like to sing sumthin' from my latest album!" Shecky continued.

"Shut up, ya stupid cat!" shouted a woman.

"Get ready, here comes dinner!" Shecky winked at the others.

"Hey, this could be a good shot for me," Rodney smirked to the others. "I'm always cracking jokes."

"Daddy says you're the reason why he barely has any more hair." Megan smiled innocently to her big brother.

"You only got me when you got me! You only squeeze me when you squeeze me!~" Shecky soon began to sing.

The people from the apartment building began to throw food at the animals who were keeping them awake since it was night time.

"Thank you, thank you!" Shecky exclaimed. "Our next act will be out momentarily~!"

"I guess that helps with getting food." Vincent shrugged to himself.

"How'd you do, Waldo?" Shecky asked his dog friend.

"We did great," Waldo smiled. "We got a bone with a little turkey on it. And there's a sardine left in this can. All kinds of good stuff."

"Okay. Garfield, it's your-" Shecky then said.

"Out of my way, amateur." Garfield smirked, shoving him out of the way.

"Uh... There ARE a couple of things you really should know." started Shecky.

"Shecky... Let's not keep my fans waiting," Garfield replied.

"...Okay..." Shecky shrugged as he and Garfield hopped onto the fence.

"This is gonna be good." Rodney rolled his eyes.

"Oh, yeah... A real fun romp." Hammie added.

"Our next performer is a comic's comic," Shecky soon announced. "Please put your paws together for Garfield!"

"Good evening, ladies and-" Garfield smiled only to get hit by a shoe.

"Ooh!" Martin and Jenny winced from that.

"You got to bob and weave out there, Garfield," Shecky advised. "A moving target is harder to hit."

"Hey, I know how to handle a rowdy crowd." Garfield told him as he got back up.

"A smaller target would be harder to hit, too." Shecky then said.

"As I was saying, good e-" Garfield then tried again only to get hit by another shoe. "I'm seriously considering retiring from showbiz."

The group winced at the impact.

"Wow... These people are angry." Zofia remarked.

"Well, they ARE New Yorkers." Vincent replied.

Zofia nodded. "Fair point."

"I know my way around New York, I mean, I've lived there for eight years against my will." Vincent said.

"So you were kidnapped?" Jenny asked.

"When I was a baby," Vincent nodded. "To this very day though, I don't know why Sykes took me away. I guess just to spite my parents since Dad's a world famous detective."

"At least he got his comeuppance," LJ replied. "And we got YOU! Even though we didn't know you existed yet..."

"It was quite a time, and those Rottweilers always scared me." Vincent shuddered slightly.

"Well, THAT time is over!" Zofia replied. "Thank goodness for that!"

"Thanks, guys." Vincent smiled.

"Eh, no problem," Zofia said. "You're among family and friends."

"I guess." Rodney shrugged since he didn't really know Vincent.

"Well, family, friends and acquaintances," LJ shrugged. "But the point still stands."

"Whatever." Rodney shrugged back.

"Well, it looks like the animals can have dinner," Raul said. "What're we gonna do to get some food around here?"

"Like I said, we're humans!" LJ replied. "All we need to do is find a restaurant!"

"We'll put in our money together to get food for us all." Mandy suggested.

"Ooh! Ooh! I want a cheeseburger animal style!" Billy beamed. "But not if the animal is a porcupine, because then it would hurt if you put it in your mouth..."

Ignoring Billy's continued rambling, the kids headed off to find a restaurant.

* * *

"There's gotta be someplace we can get to to find food..." Jenny said, holding her stomach. "A cheeseburger does sound good though."

"Yeah, I think so too." Ambrose agreed.

"Hey, look!" Martin pointed. "I think I see a restaurant over there!"

The others looked to see where he was pointing and went to go check it out.

They eventually arrived at a restaurant called the Royal Coach Diner.

"I think I remember this place." said Martin.

"Yeah... This place has great comfort food... Almost makes you feel at home." Jenny added with her brother.

And so the kids went in and got seated.

"Uh, do you have a baby seat?" Zoe asked, carrying Wren over her shoulder.

"Do you have parents?" A waitress glanced at her since they were kids on their own.

"Yes," LJ replied calmly. "They're in the bathroom is all."

The waitress glanced at them before walking off.

"Thanks," Zoe said to LJ before struggling. "Ugh... Do you see a baby seat anywhere? I feel like Wren's trying to kick my face off."

LJ snapped his fingers and made a baby seat appear.

"Uh... Thanks... I think..." Zoe said with wide eyes to that.

"Ooh~..." Wren oohed and giggled from that.

"No problem!" LJ replied. "My dad taught me how to do that!"

Zoe soon put Wren in the baby seat, bringing it over to the table as they came to sit down together to get some food.

"Man, I'm so hungry I could almost eat a horse." Sara said.

"Does that taste like chicken?" Billy asked.

"It's a metaphor." Martin replied.

"...Huh?" Billy asked.

Sara rolled her eyes a bit from Billy's lack of intelligence.

"...Never mind." Martin sighed.

"Hey, you guys know who's cute?" Ambrose smirked.

"Uh... Who?" Jenny asked.

"This actress called Melissa Joan Hart," Ambrose smirked, taking out a poster of a blonde adult woman who was quite famous. "Ain't she somethin'?"

The others glanced before the ones who knew Ambrose pretty well seemed to look disturbed as the actress looked a lot like someone they knew, especially him.

"Should we say something?" LJ whispered.

"Eh, maybe it'll sink in later." Vincent suggested.

"Perhaps." Zofia replied.

"Isn't she gorgeous?" Ambrose smiled.

The others grinned nervously to Ambrose, not really saying anything though.

"I don't get it." Billy said, though it made sense for him since he didn't know Ambrose like the others knew him.

"Yup," LJ agreed. "She's a real looker."

Ambrose soon kissed the poster he had of the actress. Zofia soon cupped her mouth and ran to the bathroom from that. LJ began to snicker at that, holding his hands over his mouth. The waitress soon came back, taking their orders and LJ ordered for his sister, and she soon went off after collecting their menus as they were all luckily able to find something they all liked on the menu. Eventually, Zofia came back.

"Ordered for ya." LJ replied.

"Oh... You're so sweet..." Zofia smiled wearily. "Thank you, Brother."

"Aw, it's nothing." LJ replied.

"You have the flu or something?" Ambrose asked her.

"Uh... She must have a 24 hour bug." Estelle smiled innocently.

"Ambrose..doesn't Melissa Joan Hart look kinda...familiar to you in some way?" asked Martin.

"Of course she does!" Ambrose smiled. "She's the girl of my dreams!"

"Well, at least it's not Caroline Rhea." Akito and Estelle whispered to each other.

LJ nodded at that.

"I meant...doesn't she remind you of anyone you might've known for most of your life?" asked Martin.

"Mom?" Ambrose asked.

"Eh..." Jenny shrugged.

"Aunt Zelda?" Ambrose asked.

"Erm..." Akito blinked.

"Sabrina?" Ambrose asked.

"Now that you mention it, the resemblance IS uncanny..." LJ replied.

"What?! No... Melissa doesn't look like Sabrina... No..." Ambrose said, looking to his signed poster. "Besides, Melissa called me adorable."

"Uh, you've met Melissa Joan Hart?" Zofia asked.

"Yeah!" Ambrose beamed. "My dad summoned her for my birthday so I could get a signed poster. I'm a huge fan of her new show on ABC Family."

The group glanced at each other. Ambrose beamed and put his poster away for right now as the waiters and waitresses soon came with their food and drinks.

"Alright, it's chow time!" LJ exclaimed.

"Where are your parents?" A waiter asked.

"Uh, paying the cab driver." Vincent smiled nervously.

The waiter shrugged, then left.

"ITADAKIMASU!" LJ exclaimed, before he started eating vigorously.

"...What...?" Hammie asked.

"It's Japanese for 'let's eat'!" replied LJ before he went back to his food.

"Oh... Uh... I totally knew that." Hammie smiled.

"You don't know squat, Half-Pint." Rodney scoffed as he soon ate with the others.

* * *

Eventually, the group was finished eating, and LJ put some money on the table to pay.

"Ooh, I feel so much better now," Raul sighed in relief after eating. "I could've gone with fried bananas too. Mom and I love our fried bananas."

"Yup..." Jenny nodded. "Now let's find somewhere to get some sleep."

"I guess a hotel?" Akito suggested with a shrug.

"Well... Alright." Kimberly replied.

"It's a start." Jenny added.

They soon went downtown to find a vacant hotel for them to stay in. They proceeded to check in for the night and go to their rooms.

* * *

"I hope Garfield will be alright on his own out there." Jenny said, looking out her window.

"Ah, relax, Jen," Raul told his cousin. "Garfield's a smart cat."

"Yeah! He's been in tougher scrapes before!" Martin added.

"Yeah... Maybe you guys are right." Jenny said to her cousin and brother.

"There ya go," LJ replied. "Now let's get some shut-eye."

"You're right, you're right..." Jenny said before yawning and stretching. "Sleep."

"Okay, uh, good night, um... Sheldon?" Zofia told the younger Bitterman boy.

"Shelby." Shelby corrected, though he didn't seem to be bothered that she got his name wrong.

"Erm... Right... Good night, Shelby," Zofia said. "You go to sleep with the other Baby Blues kids."

With a mutter, Shelby turned over on his side and dozed off. Rodney narrowed his eyes a bit as he seemed to not like his younger brother having a crush on Zofia. Eventually, everyone drifted off to sleep that night.

* * *

**_Meanwhile..._**

"Drell, do you think we should check on Ambrose?" Hilda asked her husband as they shared a bed at the spa together. "I mean, Zelda or Sabrina and Harvey couldn't watch him... Maybe we shouldn't have left him all alone."

"He's fine, now go to sleep." Drell told his wife, trying to get some sleep himself.

Hilda looked a bit unsure, but went to sleep anyway.

"I wouldn't worry about it..." Drell said as he slept on his side. "Ambrose is a smart kid... He gets that from my side of the family." he then added with a quiet smirk to himself.

Hilda inwardly rolled her eyes as she dozed off.

"You worry too much..." Drell yawned before drifting off to sleep himself.

Hilda pouted a bit before looking off distantly before falling asleep. "Good night, Ambrose."

And for the rest of the night, all was silent...save for Drell's snoring.


	5. Chapter 5

Eventually, the next morning came, though a bit early as Wren soon woke up, screaming and crying.

"Your turn, Hammie." Zoe groaned.

"I did it the last time!" Hammie complained. "It's YOUR turn!"

"Jeez... Do Mom and Dad do this all the time?" Zoe glared at her brother.

"I think so." Hammie replied.

LJ sighed as he got up. "What is it...?" he grumbled, his eyes bloodshot.

"Wren's crying." Zoe and Hammie groaned about their baby sister.

LJ sighed, before going over and checking Wren's diaper..and then quickly changed it for a fresh one. Wren kept on crying before she soon settled down and cooed and giggled to him.

"Gnarly." Rodney groaned from the dirty diaper.

"No harm done..." LJ said to Wren.

Wren soon gave him a baby kiss on the cheek out of thanks.

LJ gave a wheezing snicker at that."It was nothin', little lady. Never hurts to help." he replied as he put Wren back down.

Wren giggled and cooed up to him.

"Beats me changing a diaper." Hammie smirked.

"You're a Diaper Head." Zoe spat out.

"Knock it off, you two," LJ remarked. "It's too early for this."

Zofia groaned as she didn't want to leave her bed just yet. LJ patted his sister on her shoulder gently.

Zofia turned over to get some more sleep, muffling into her pillow. "No..."

"It's cool, sis; nap it up," LJ mumbled, pulling the covers over her head.

"Why so early?" Zofia pouted to her brother.

"That's the call of adventure," Raul replied. "It never rests."

"And neither do WE...except when we're tired." Jenny replied.

"Okay... I'll be right there..." Zofia said, flopping out of her bed and soon went to the bathroom to freshen up.

"Too bad this isn't the Plaza," Vincent said as he looked at a breakfast menu that seemed expensive. "Eloise always ordered Room Service for us and she just charged it to her mother's account."

"Well, we WERE tired." LJ replied.

"Seriously... $30 for a bowl of a cereal." Vincent said, showing him the breakfast menu that came with the room.

"These guys are clearly trying to squeeze as much dough as they can outta the guests..." LJ replied.

"You're better off just ordering your own food and bringing it into the hotel," Rodney added. "Unless you're a total cheapskate like my dad."

"That explains why your house looks like it's falling apart." Jenny said.

"Eh, that's mostly from Shelby trying to break it down," Rodney replied. "Or... At least he used to... Before he changed."

Shelby seemed to be picking petals off of a flower as he thought about Zofia.

LJ shrugged. "I haven't seen prices this crazy since Leo Quad was on Planet Imecka..."

"I could really go for a bowl of Choco Gators," Hammie smiled. "They look like Croc from Pearls Before Swine."

"You know those PBS guys pretty well, huh?" Raul asked.

"Yeah, we had a crossover with them once where they babysat us." Zoe explained.

"Wow..." Jenny replied.

"It was... Something else, I'll tell ya that." Zoe replied.

"I'll take your word for it." LJ replied.

Eventually, they all went to have some breakfast before they would meet up with Garfield.

"So, we heard your parents met the legendary Manhattan Clan." Zofia said to Martin and Jenny.

"Along with Dad and Aunt Lu." Jenny replied.

"Yeah," Martin replied. "From what they told us, it was a wild experience...also a fun one."

"So, which is better?" Zofia asked. "Big city or little island in the middle of nowhere?"

"Oh, I couldn't choose..." Jenny replied. "They're both pretty good."

"Even though we were born in the city." Martin added. "Albonquentine has a homey feel of its own."

"Hm... Interesting..." Zofia said.

"You guys like your home?" Vincent asked LJ and Zofia.

"It's pretty good, but it's cool to get out, like visiting Gotham." Zofia smiled.

"Yeah...even though setting foot in that town is a death sentence." LJ added.

"It helps to have Aunt Selina and Uncle Bruce around." Zofia smiled.

"Yeah," LJ smiled. "They're pretty fun to hang around with, even if they are older."

"Your family sounds so much cooler than ours." Hammie commented.

"Well, your comic strip is meant to be realistic fiction," explained LJ. "And...our lives are just really zany."

"Yeah, I guess." Hammie shrugged.

"I'm not sure if I like an adventurous lifestyle..." Megan said. "I miss my mommy and daddy."

"Look, we'll find SOME way back home," Vincent replied. "Trust me on that."

"We'll try." Megan pouted a bit.

* * *

After eating breakfast, they soon walked off to try to see if they could find Garfield.

"Hey, Garfield! Where are ya!" LJ called. "Ooo-die!"

They soon walked through the park.

"Found 'em." Hammie pointed out.

"Morning, you two," Akito waved to them. "Sleep well?"

"Eh, pretty okay, I guess," Garfield replied. "Not sure if I'm willing to have breakfast in the dumpster though."

"Well, you wanted to be a real cat." Vincent reminded him.

"And real cats don't get to eat lasagna, or watch TV, or have cool adventures," LJ added. "The unlucky ones have to scrounge around dumpsters just to find food."

"Now ya tell me," Garfield groaned a bit before finding a newspaper and decided to check it out. "Hey Odie. Let's see how the folks back home are furring with our strip."

Odie was soon chased away by the chihuahuas in the park since they remembered him.

"I think he's got his paws full." Jenny said to the orange cat.

"Ah, whatever," Garfield said before taking a look at the newspaper before panicking. "What?! They're cancelling my strip?! They can't do that! This wasn't supposed to happen."

"Well, without a Garfield, there's no Garfield comic strip!" LJ explained. "You matter much more than you realize."

"Guess ya shouldn't have left." Kimberly said to Garfield.

"Yeah... I guess not..." replied Garfield. "That tears it. Somehow I gotta get back home!"

"But what can ya do?" Martin asked.

"Huh?" Garfield then blinked as he saw something else in the newspaper. "Hey. The newspaper's having a contest to replace my strip."

"It just better not be that Schnookums Cat from Disney and his wannabe Ren & Stimpy Show." Zofia advised.

"Eh, Pith Possum was the only bearable segment in that series," LJ replied.

"Even if Doris Deer did start a relationship with Aunt Lu's turtle." added Jenny.

"Hey guys, I have an idea," Garfield said to them. "We'll go to the newspaper contest to make sure they don't replace my strip."

"Hey, that's brilliant!" Zofia exclaimed. "All we'd have to do is prove that you two are the genuine Garfield and Odie! That shouldn't be too hard!"

"Let's go, Odie," Garfield smiled before looking around. "Odie?"

The dog in question had run up the pole with the chihuahuas following him. Soon, he got off the pole, launching the chihuahuas in the air and back into holes. Then they popped out of random holes as Odie tried to whack them until he got tired and left.

"You think your comic strip will be alright without you?" Ambrose asked the Baby Blues kids.

"Eh, probably," Rodney shrugged. "They sometimes focus on adult stories. It ain't always about us."

"Well, we better get Odie out of his little chihuahua crisis," said LJ. "Speaking of crisis, anyone seen Billy and Mandy?"

"I think I saw them on the swings." Raul replied.

Billy and Mandy were shown to be on the swings.

"Aren't you gonna help us?" Zofia rhetorically asked.

"This whole story is stupid." Mandy glared.

"Well, you didn't have to be apart of it." Zofia glared back, a bit hurt.

"Yeah, so unless you wanna make yourselves useful, then kindly piss off and let the actual heroes get it done," LJ replied. "Hey, writers? These guys don't wanna actually DO anything to justify their presence in the story!"

A giant eraser soon came out to erase Billy and Mandy.

"Whoa! Hey! Don't even think about-" Mandy glared.

The eraser soon rubbed them out.

"We're being rubbed out like in that one Cow & Chicken episode!" Billy cried out.

"If you ain't gonna pull your weight, then you aren't gonna BE in this story!" LJ replied. "So...goodbye and good riddance!"

"Now, where were we?" Zofia asked.

"Comic contest?" The others reminded.

"Ah, yes." Zofia then said.

"Let's go, team!" LJ exclaimed triumphantly. "We got this!"

"Let's go then!" Zofia proclaimed.

"Right!" The others agreed.

Odie was still being chased by the chihuahuas.

"We should probably do something about that though." Rodney said.

"Mm-hmm," Vincent replied as Garfield rolled a trashcan in front of the chihuahuas, trapping them inside as it rolled down a steep hill. "There we go." he then said.

"Have a nice day," Garfield smirked before looking to Odie. "Done playing with our little friends, are we?"

"Uh-huh." Odie nodded.

"Good," Garfield then told him. "Now let's go tell the newspaper that we're going home."

And so, the kids and their animal allies set off to the newspaper office to enlighten them on the situation.

"This is it," Garfield told the others. "Let's go, guys."

"Let's just hope no villains show up." Akito replied.

"Hey, we're doing pretty good so far!" Chrissy replied. "At best, we'll have nuisances, but not outright villains."

"Yeah, good point." Akito replied.

* * *

They were now waiting in line as other people were hoping to have their comic strips submitted into the daily paper.

"Competition isn't exactly fierce..." noted Martin, looking around at the people. "We're a shoe-in for this!"

"Yeah, we got this," Vincent smirked. "This is gonna be good."

"I know it too." Ambrose agreed.

They snuck into the office as a metal-head covered in piercings entered.

"We just gotta get up there...and show 'em we're back." explained Garfield.

"Easier said than done." replied Chrissy.

"Next!" A voice called as the metal-head soon ran out, crying.

"Must be a tough judge." Kimberly commented.

* * *

"Good afternoon, folks." Garfield greeted, jumping onto the table.

"Who are these guys?" One judge asked.

"I don't see them on the list." Another judge replied.

"See the resemblance?" asked Garfield, as Odie hopped up and down.

"They DO kinda look like them..." said the center judge.

"That's because it IS me!" replied Garfield. "We're pleased to announce that we're ready to go back to work!" Odie finally jumped onto the table.

The judges looked concerned.

"What's with that dog's tongue?"

"Must be some sort of a glandular condition."

"Not a very dignified representative of the canine fo-"

"Hey, can a real cat do this?" Garfield smiled as he did a dance for the judges.

"Hey, that cat has one big belly on him." A judge said.

"It would set a bad example of the overweight of the youth." Another judge added.

"Can't have that." A third judge agreed.

"Hold on. Hold on," Garfield told them. "We are the real Garfield and Odie. And to leave no doubt in your mind, we will now perform our classic gag from our comic strip. Odie, if you please."

Odie soon got into position.

"You know, folks, a day without kicking Odie off the table is like a day without sunshine." Garfield then said before kicking Odie off of the table.

"That cat just kicked that dog off that table." A judge frowned.

"Oh, the horror! How violent!" The other judge gasped.

"Hey, lighten up, lady. Nobody gets hurt in a comic strip. Right, Odie?" Garfield told her before checking down to Odie who looked actually hurt. "Oops, sorry, Odie. I didn't know you could really get hurt in the real world."

"Well, that's why they call it the Real World." LJ whispered to them.

"I think we've seen enough," said another judge.

"Did I mention we'll work for scale?" asked Garfield.

"Next!" said the female judge.

"Wait! You're making a huge mistake!" begged Garfield.

"NEXT!" The judge repeated.

Garfield then sighed and got off of the table.

"Bummer." Akito and Estelle frowned.

"This ain't looking good..." LJ remarked as a man in an orange suit came into the office and set up his equipment.

"Sid, Bobby, Eric, Mike here!" the man exclaimed. "I have with me today a licensing phenomenon destined to take the publishing biz by storm. Introducing, Hale and Hardy!"

The group turned to see the doors fly open, and in walked a muscular dog and cat, wearing sweatbands and leotards with the letter H on them. They hopped onto the table and began flexing their muscles, as the judges watched in awe.

"Hey, I kinda like these guys." Akito smirked from the muscle-bounding.

"We're toast." Garfield sulked.

LJ snorted. "Totally unrelatable... Not to mention they look like they're on steroids." he remarked.

"These boys are positive, appealing, and can generate massive licensing income for your newspaper!" The man continued as Hale and Hardy chest-bumped each other. "These two can have your fat, lazy readers dieting and exercising in no time flat!"

Akito smirked as he walked up to the men curiously.

"Imagine dieting with Hale and Hardy Mineral Water," Mike continued, showing the judges some pictures. "Imagine exercising with..."

"Hale and Hardy Leotards!" A judge beamed.

"And..." Mike said, showing them another picture.

"Hale and Hardy dumbbells!" Another judge remarked.

"In one of your franchise, Hale and Hardy Wellness Center." Mike replied.

"Ooh~..." The judges seemed to be impressed.

"Is this an audition or a commercial?" Jenny scoffed.

"Yes." replied Martin flatly.

"But are they funny?" asked LJ. "You can't be a comic strip star if you're not funny!"

"Well? What do you think?" asked Mike.

"I think we have our new comic strip: Hale and Hardy." replied the female judge.

"I can't believe this is happening!" exclaimed Garfield.

"Oh, believe it, Tubby," remarked Hardy in an Austrian accent.

"I just happen to have a contract right here." Mike told the judges.

"No! You can't do that!" Chrissy cried out.

"The blonde girl is right!" Garfield replied as LJ lifted him onto the table. "That guy on the poster? That's ME!"

"Hold on a minute," said the middle judge. "Garfield was the best comic strip we ever had. I'm gonna give them one last chance."

"Really?!" LJ asked as his eyes lit up. "Ya mean it?!"

"Well... On one condition." The judge replied.

"Sure! Anything! What is it?" Raul asked.

"If the strip isn't back in the paper in 24 hours, we've got a deal with Hale and Hardy." The judge replied.

"No problemo," Mike said. "We'll see you tomorrow."

"Sid, you can't be serious!" said the female judge. "You don't honestly believe that cat and that dog are really Garfield and Odie?"

"At my age, nothing surprises me. Humor me. The Garfield strip has one more day to make it back." replied Sid.

"Yes, sir! You're the man, Sid. You're the man!" Garfield whooped as he and Odie danced. "We're in the comics~we're in the comics~"

"That strip is OURS!" snapped Hale.

"Sorry, steroid-brains," remarked LJ. "But the Garfield strip's goin' back in the paper tomorrow, and there's nothing you can do about it, nyah-nyah!"

"We'll see about that!" Hale glared.

"Dog abuser!" Hardy huffed at Garfield.

The two soon went off with a laugh as the others glared at them.

"Losers," Garfield scoffed before blowing raspberries at them and looked to his friends. "Come on, guys. We gotta find a way back home."


	6. Chapter 6

Later, the group was in the park. Garfield had found a pair of newspapers and taped them to a tree branch.

"Comic world...here we come," the cat replied. "On your marks...get set...GO!" And he and Odie raced towards the newspapers.

"Buh-bye, guys!" waved Waldo. "They're not goin' anywhere," replied Shecky.

As they approached the papers, Garfield and Odie leapt towards them, but ended up face-planting right on the ground. Next, they were on top of a fence, with a comics page sprawled out on the ground.

"On your marks...get set... LEAP!" Garfield exclaimed, and he and Odie jumped towards the page, but ended up face-planting yet again.

"Aw, Odie..." The others sighed to the dog.

"I think we're gonna need a lot more work in this than I thought." Ambrose said to the others.

"Especially after that last attempt almost got Garfield and Odie flattened by a steamroller..." LJ added.

"This just isn't working..." sighed Garfield.

"Come on, Garfield, it's time to go." said Shecky.

"I gotta figure out a way to get back to the comic world." replied Garfield.

"Well, my door is always open." Shecky replied as he got out of the trashcan.

"Good luck getting back into the paper." replied Sheila.

"Yeah, good luck." added Waldo.

"Yeah... Luck's all we have left." sighed Kimberly.

"Hello? Anybody home?" Garfield asked as he spotted a newspaper. "Oh, we've tried everything we've known to get back and nothing works. I need some help here. I didn't know if you're watching this paper."

"Garfield, don't give up, we can do this." Zofia urged.

"Can we though?" Rodney groaned as he looked close to giving up.

"Arlene, Eli, everybody. I'm sorry," sighed Garfield. "I can't believe I ever gave a thought to coming here. You know what? This isn't the real world. Reality is where your heart is...and my heart is with the comics; with you guys. If there's a way back, I promise you, we'll find it."

LJ smiled. "Looks like you've figured it out, dude." he replied.

"Yeah?" Garfield replied. "You think so?"

A lady was then seen playing an accordion.

Suddenly, inspiration struck the cat. "Odie, I have an idea. Kimberly, hold up the paper," he explained, and Kimberly did so. "Eli, I hope you're watching because I need you to get to Wally. And hurry. There's no time to waste!"

Kimberly looked hopeful and curious.

"That was the most beautiful music I've ever heard." Garfield smiled.

"Hey, kitty." A girl said.

"Wally, are you there?" asked Garfield. "This could be our way back. Remember your concertina? The one you rigged to steal Bonita's cookies? Well, make a bigger one to rescue us. Put doors on each end and stretch it through the screen," he took one end of the concertina and pulled it out. "Like this!"

* * *

**_In the comic world..._**

"What?!" Bonita glared to her husband.

"Make a bigger one to rescue us," Garfield continued to explain to Wally. "Put doors on each end and stretch it to the screen like this."

"Of course," Wally replied. "It could work. It's brilliant!"

"You stole my cookies!" Bonita complained.

"But we need materials," Wally then continued. "We need people with tools."

"My cookies?!" Bonita shrieked.

"Please, allow me," Carl stepped over, shoving Bonita aside. "I AM a handyman after all."

"If you can hear us, then good luck in building it!" LJ added. "We're counting on ya!"

"Well, Odie, it's out of our hands now," Garfield said before looking to the girl. "Oh, and nice work on the arpeggios there."

"Bye." The girl said as they soon began to leave.

"I just hope Wally and the others can manage to pull this off..." replied Chrissy to the group.

"You and me both... I'm sure it'll work out though," Garfield said. "Wally's a smart guy."

"My daddy can fix a whole lotta stuff." Megan smiled hopefully.

Back in the comic world, Wally was showing everyone the diagram of his invention.

"Tires," he explained. "I need four tires!"

On that, Billy Bear, Randy, Arlene, and Nermal zipped out and took the tires off Jon's car.

"My car!" Jon cried out from that.

"Walk it off, Arbunkle." Carl told him, very nonchalant.

Jon soon fainted from that.

"I need all the folding doors you can find!" Wally told the group next.

And they all headed off...even Bonita.

"Hey, Dagwood." Randy Rabbit said, taking a door from Dagwood's bathroom.

"You know, you could help." Melinda said to Bonita.

"What are YOU doing then?" Bonita scoffed.

"Smoke break." Melinda said as she began to take out a cigarette to smoke.

* * *

Meanwhile, Garfield, Odie, and the rest of the group had wandered into the old Hotel Muncie, unaware of two sinister presences who were looking to sabotage their chances.

"You guys feel like we're being watched?" Akito asked.

"Knowing this journey, we are." Vincent replied.

Shecky was in the room when he saw the group enter. "Hey, guys. You done with that whole crazy plan?" he asked.

"No, things are going great," replied Garfield. "We're just a little tired, is all."

Odie sat down on the floor, as Garfield scratched his ear.

"Boy, we've had a day, haven't we?" asked the cat. "But soon, everything will be alright, and we'll have our strip back."

Shecky yawned as he went back to sleep, and the others soon joined him...but not before Garfield blew out the candle.

"Speaking of cats, I hope Snow White is okay." Vincent said.

"That Disney Princess that PerkyGoth14 really hates?" Jenny asked.

"Huh? No, no," Vincent replied. "Snow White is my cat back home. I adopted her after we met Jenny Foxworth who was Estelle's pen pal at the time before she became my girlfriend. Sometimes we video chat with our cats so she can see Oliver."

"Oh...well, that's sweet." LJ replied as the group dozed off.

Unfortunately, the two mysterious shadows turned out to be Hale and Hardy, who snuck in, attacked the group, and then tied them all up, dangling from the ceiling. And then the candle was re-lit.

"You are right for once, Kitty Cat," smirked Hale as he doused the match. "Tomorrow WILL be a better day... FOR US!" and he and Hardy guffawed heartily. "We are laughing together!"

Everyone soon fell asleep, though some of the others felt something wrong. Especially Akito as he was fighting in his sleep a bit, making sure not to hit anyone.

Zoe looked over to Rodney as he was asleep and looked like she had a lot on her mind. "Maybe I DO like him..." she said to herself. "I mean... He was a pain when we first met, but... He was very funny... And kinda smart... Then again, I grew up with Bogart... We've both been neighbors for seven years..." she then cupped her face a bit in dismay. "Oh, what do I do? My story arc is taking over my life!"

"Too bad you can't help your strip!" sneered Hardy.

"Ja, because we see you are all tied up!" added Hale, as they slapped fives. "We laugh in your face again!"

"Und tomorrow, we are going to be on ze comics page!" remarked Hardy. "Ve are so funny, I find myself laughing already!"

"Ve're laughing in your fa~ce!" taunted Hale.

"You won't get away with this!" snapped Garfield.

"Oh, ja? Just watch us!" replied Hardy. "Let us get out of zis dump."

"Ja, let's," agreed Hale. "Who is ze loser NOW, losers? A-ha-ha-ha!"

"Ja! Losers!" added Hardy, as the two pumped-up animals headed out the door.

* * *

"Huh? Is someone there?" Zoe asked before shaking chills around her body. "Oh, great... I'm so stressed out that I'm hearing things."

LJ sniffed the air as he woke up. "Hey...anybody else smell something burning?" he asked.

The others soon woke up and looked around curiously.

"The hotel is on fire!" Megan panicked.

"We gotta get Garfield and Odie out!" Kimberly exclaimed.

"Let's try to get ourselves out without becoming extra-crispy first!" Chrissy replied.

Akito soon ran up to the door and rammed into it with a glare, using all of his strength as this was an emergency. "Come on, gang!" he then told the others.

The group then joined him in breaking down the door, as they rushed into the next room to save Garfield and Odie, as well as Shecky.

"Get us outta here!" Garfield yelped, terrified.

"Run! RUN! This is not a drill!" Ambrose cried out.

"We KNOW!" LJ replied. "We're trying to get them free!"

"Who started this fire anyway?" Zofia glared.

Shelby glanced to her from that and then went to go explore on his own. He saw Hale and Hardy walking off down the hall, laughing.

"Once zat stupid cat ünd dog are out of ze vay, we vill be ze vones vith ze comic strip ünd merchandise!" laughed Hale.

"Ja! Ünd zen ve vill laugh!" agreed Hardy. "Like ve are laughing right now! A-ho-ho! Ohohoho!"

Shelby narrowed his eyes at them. Megan panicked, running around while screaming and crying.

"Meg! RELAX!" Rodney told his sister.

"I CAN'T! We're trapped in a flaming old wreck of a hotel, and we're gonna burn up and get all crispy, and we'll never see Mom and Dad ever again!" Megan exclaimed.

The others kept trying to find a way out.

"It's become the Towering Inferno!" Jenny cried out.

* * *

Wally still had the others helping him out with his new invention which had a pretty interesting name.

"That should do it, Waldo." Carl told Wally.

"Erm, Wally." Wally replied.

"Yeah, whatever." Carl rolled his eyes.

"I'll need three volunteers to come with me!" Wally announced. "I'm 1!"

Next, Jon stood up. "I'm 2!"

Then, Arlene stood with him. "I'm 3!" But Billy Bear interrupted.

"Ah, I'M 3." he replied. "This calls for a strong back, Arlene."

"Let's go, men." said Wally.

They soon entered the machine which was named after Wally's wife.

"All right! Go into that screen and help them!" Melinda called out. "I don't want my babies to die in a fire."

"Says the woman who smokes all the time." Darryl muttered only to get nudged by Wanda as that was rude.

And everyone outside the machine pushed it towards the screen, allowing it to break through, into the Real World.

"Heave! Ho! Heave! Ho! Heave! Ho!" Carl told the others.

However, the screen changed from the hotel over to the park.

"What the-?!" Carl asked.

"It's too dangerous to send you guys into the hotel," Eli said as he was changing a place for them to go through. "If the paper you go through burns up, there's no way back. I'm trying to find a safer paper out in the street."

"Well... That's a good idea." Jon replied as they climbed into the machine.

"Just make sure my babies don't get burned up!" Melinda said, sounding a bit frantic and serious. "My kids are all I got from being a successful mother! I wanna make up for what my mom did to me when she put me in a tiny box for a circus act!"

"Mel, calm down." Carl told his wife.

"That's easy for YOU to say, Carl!" Melinda replied. "All you do is yell at Rodney all the time and goin' to work while I'm with the kids all day long while Wanda is doin' the same thing, but her husband has a REAL job! I can't even remember when the last time was I got a full night of sleep without insanity in my own home!"

"Don't worry," replied Wally. "This should work. Now everyone, push us towards the screen!"

Melinda soon hyperventilated before going to join the others.

Carl blinked rapidly before glaring at Darryl. "I blame you for this."

Darryl shrugged in response. They all soon came aboard once Eli found a safe spot to send to them to and brought them into the real world. They then yelled out as they soon left and were now in a new realm of existence.

"Wow. We made it." Billy Bear told the others.

"Let's go, everyone." said Wally, and they rushed towards the Hotel Muncie, which had begun to catch on fire.

Jon strained to pull one of the boards off the door, but he couldn't do it. "It's stuck!" he exclaimed.

"Step aside. This is a job for a big bear," Billy Bear said before running towards the door, but he hit it, which didn't break. "Wow. That's definitely not a comic door."

"Oh, brother." Carl rolled his eyes.

"Look," Wally said before pulling some planks out of the way. "This way."

The group made their way through the new entrance, though Billy Bear had a little trouble getting inside.

* * *

Meanwhile, back in the hotel room, the kids were still struggling to get Garfield, Odie, and Shecky free from their ropes.

"Come on! Come on!" Akito grunted as he did what he could do. "I'm usually pretty amazing at this! Uh, not to brag of course. It's almost like my powers are fading or something."

LJ took out a Swiss Army Knife and began cutting at the ropes as quickly as he could. As he did, the door flew open, and the group burst in.

"Prepare to be rescued!" announced Wally.

Garfield smiled. "I knew you'd come for us!" he exclaimed.

"Thank goodness! Some help!" Megan gasped.

"Easy, Megan, don't breathe too much," Hammie warned. "Some smoke might get in your lungs."

Megan looked scared from that.

"Hey! You're Billy Bear!" Shecky smiled to the bear.

"That's my name. Don't wear it out." Billy Bear replied.

"You ARE cartoon characters!" Shecky exclaimed, realizing Garfield was telling the truth the whole time.

"Yer darn tootin'!" replied Billy Bear as he took out a hankie and blew into it, with an A-HOOGAH sound.

"Wow..." remarked Shecky. "Hey, what's Snoopy REALLY like?"

"Pretty humble since he retired, actually." shrugged Billy Bear.

"Hurry, guys. Hurry." Arlene urged.

"I should probably get us out of here." Akito said before he went in flight, Superman style.

* * *

The group headed out of the room only to see that the hotel was almost completely engulfed in flames. One pathway was blocked, but the other was clear, so they chose that direction instead. But when they did, the ceiling over it collapsed, covering it with fiery rubble.

"What do we do now?" asked Jon.

"Fear not, ladies and gents, we can ride through the flames on this handy trash cart!" replied Shecky, gesturing to a nearby cart. "It might be a little rusty, but I assure you, it is fireproof!"

So the group proceeded to empty the cart out so that they could climb aboard.

"Hmm... I dunno, but it's the best we got right now." Chrissy said to Shecky.

"Let's go then, Blondie!" Shecky replied.

LJ quickly pulled her aboard.

Odie realized he'd forgotten something. "My bone...my bone!" he exclaimed. He leapt out of the cart and ran to grab it.

"Odie! Get back here!" Garfield shouted as the dog ran into the burning room.

"Here we go!" said Billy, as he began pushing the cart. As Odie tried to get the bone, the ceiling collapsed, the debris knocking the bone into the air. Odie made a flying leap so he could grab it...and he did, until he fell down onto a chandelier.

"Get that chandelier swinging, Odie," instructed Garfield. "We'll grab you from the 2nd-floor balcony!"

"This is not good." Raul groaned slightly.

"OOOOODIIIIIE!" The others cried out for the dog.

Odie was swinging, but also struggling.

"Odie, grab my hands!" Garfield told the dog.

Odie soon took Garfield's paws, but they soon swung together.

"No! Odie! You were supposed to let go of the chandelier!" Rodney cried out.

"Talk about your beat-laid plans..." LJ replied as they rounded another corner.

"Garfield! Swing to the main staircase!" called Jon. "We'll grab you there!"

"C'mon, Odie...we've got a cart to catch!" Garfield said, as he and Odie began swinging, though the chandelier seemed to sag, its wiring starting to come loose.

They soon landed on the cart and they zoomed out of the hotel.

"Back to the Comic World and fast!" Ambrose cried out.

"Yeah!" The others agreed with him on that.

They soon came into Wally's invention and made it back into the comic world just as the paper soon turned to dust, rendering it useless.

* * *

In a burst, the machine was sent back through the doorway, and with a smoky fog, the door was flung open by Wally. "We did it!" he exclaimed, and was met with thunderous cheering and applause.

"Oh, thank goodness, we made it." Zofia said in relief.

"Oh, Wally," Bonita beamed to her husband for once. "My hero!"

Next, Billy Bear, Jon, and the kids stepped out, and then came Odie, but when he saw Prop Boy, he made sure to keep the bone out of sight.

"Look out, comic world," Shecky smiled as he came on out. "Here I come."

"I think you might like it here, Shecky," Akito smiled back to the cat. "You're pretty funny and cool for an alley cat."

"Sure, why not?" replied Shecky. "It could be fun!"

"Alright!" Akito beamed to him.

Garfield soon reunited with Arlene before getting slapped by her.

"I love you, Garfield," Arlene told him. "Don't you ever leave me again."

"Boy, am I glad you don't hate me." Garfield replied.

"That's for certain." Zofia nodded.

"Thank goodness you kids are all right." Melinda smiled once she saw Rodney and Megan.

"You too." Wanda added, seeing Zoe, Hammie, and Wren.

"It was nothing, really..." replied Kimberly.

"Thanks for bringing them home," Darryl said. "I hope we all learned something important from all of this."

"Reality doesn't have anything to do with what world you're in," explained LJ. "It's where your heart belongs."

"Exactly!" Darryl smiled. "My dad always said that."

The others glanced to him.

"Okay, maybe not that exactly, but it's still a good lesson," Darryl replied. "Try telling that to Dilbert."

The kids glanced at each other, and just shrugged.

"Now that Garfield's back, it looks like Hale and Hardy might be cancelled now." Jenny smirked to the others.

"Or at least cancel their chances!" Martin replied.

They all then shared a laugh together about their competition.

"And I'm gonna be in the comic world from here on out!" Shecky beamed. "I sense a bright and beautiful future for myself."


	7. Chapter 7

And the next day, a party was thrown to celebrate Garfield's return.

LJ stepped up to the mike as the band played. "This little tune goes out to a certain orange feline. Hit it!"

The music changed as he began singing.

"Well, he's a fat cat, a cool cat, nobody's fool cat, Well look out, 'cause here comes Garfield!~" LJ sang. "He never keeps fit, he's too hip! He likes his catnip, Well look out, 'cause here comes Garfield! He's always got to be one-up on ya, and he'll beat you to the punch everytiiiime! He'll give up anything for lasagna, well... unless he has to give up on his nap-time!~ Well, he's a neat cat, a fun cat, Mr. #1 Cat, he knows what life is all abooout!, Here comes Garfield! Look out, here comes Garfiiiiiield!, Look out, I said, here comes Garf-i-eld, so you better look out!~"

Kimberly and Chrissy soon came up to LJ, hoping to dance with him.

"Wanna dance with us?" Chrissy smiled to LJ.

"But of course!" LJ beamed as he joined them on the dance floor.

Kimberly and Chrissy smiled as they went to dance with LJ.

"Has anyone seen Shelby?!" Melinda soon panicked.

"He's over by the sound system." pointed Akito.

"Shelby?" Melinda called.

Shelby soon came out, waving to his mother.

"Oh, thank God, I nearly had a heart attack." Melinda then said, going to take another smoke break.

"I think the smokes will handle THAT before the shock of losing Shelby did..." remarked Chrissy.

"It's a good way to relieve stress." Melinda replied.

"I'm not too sure about that..." Kimberly mumbled a bit as she didn't really like smoking.

"It's also a good way to get lung cancer," LJ remarked. "And put yourself in an early grave."

Melinda just glanced at them, not changing her expression as she took one of her infamous smoke breaks.

"To each their own, I suppose," LJ shrugged. "I know I'm never gonna take up smoking."

"Me neither..." Zofia groaned before sounding sickly. "Cigarettes are gross!"

The kids all unanimously agreed on that point.

"Meh..." Melinda replied. "C'est la vie, I guess as the Italians say."

"French." Wanda corrected.

"No, thanks, I'm on a diet." Melinda replied.

Wanda face-palmed at that with a sigh of mild irritation. Everyone continued to dance and have fun since things were more or less back to normal in Comic Strip World.

"So, Ambrose, how's Witch School?" Akito asked.

"Okay, I guess when I don't have to deal with Shinji," Ambrose shrugged, rolling his bi-colored eyes. "There's this one girl named Veralupa."

"And who's she?" Jenny asked.

"She's a half-witch, half-werewolf." Ambrose explained.

"A witch-wolf..." LJ replied. "Funny... I heard of this one named Enid. Her mother's a vampire, her father's a werewolf, and she's training to become a witch, though she prefers to be a ninja."

"That's a mouthful," Ambrose chuckled. "Maybe they're related. There's also the twins, Londa and Zonda."

"Sounds like you're doing alright in Witch School." Zofia said.

"Yeah, it's alright," Ambrose shrugged. "I don't care about special treatment though because of who my father is, unlike Shinji who acts high and mighty since he's the son of Enchantra."

"Big deal," shrugged Vincent. "We beat him before, and if he makes trouble some more, we'll beat him again!"

"Though he looks more like a vampire than a warlock if you ask me." Ambrose smirked with a wink of his sky blue eye.

The kids all chuckled at that. Ambrose soon laughed along with them. And all in all, everyone was glad to have things back to normal...mostly.

"Well, this was really something else, but I think we should head back." Ambrose said to the others as he took out his father's ticket.

"Alrighty then," replied LJ. "Let's get going!"

"See ya, Comic Strip World, it's been fun." Zofia said before looking down.

Shelby tugged on her shirt and soon held out a flower for her.

"Uh, thank you." Zofia said, accepting the flower.

"You're welcome." Shelby replied with a grin.

Zofia soon put the flower in her hair a bit with a small, innocent smile.

"I'll miss you very much." Shelby told her.

"Um... I'll miss you too?" Zofia shrugged sheepishly.

"Come back soon." Shelby said.

Rodney narrowed his eyes in a bit of a dark way.

"We'll be sure to do that." LJ replied as he and the others soon left.

They soon left on the train and Ambrose brought them back home after their misadventure with Garfield and Odie.

"Boy, was that exciting!" Sara exclaimed.

"It really was," Jenny smiled. "I'm glad you go to come with us too."

"I'm pretty happy I got to come too," replied Sara. "I got to see how comic characters live when they're off the comics pages!"

"It was a really interesting experience," Jenny smiled. "I'm sure Mom would appreciate it when we tell her about it too, right, Marty?"

"Most definitely!" Martin agreed.

"Thanks for letting me come with you guys, it was great." Sara smiled back to the Mazinsky twins.

"You're welcome!" They both replied.

Sara soon hugged them both which made Martin blush a bit while Jenny giggled. It was a pretty sweet moment for all.

"Now if there was a way to save Cartoon Cartoon Fridays." Jenny then said.

"You guys really like that, huh?" Estelle asked.

"It was kind of our parents' livelihood, along with some others." Jenny replied.

"Maybe...it doesn't HAVE to end, just cuz the block did," LJ suggested. "Whenever I watch classic cartoons on my laptop or phone, I pretend they're part of a new, hypothetical CCF line-up!"

"Aw, that's pretty cool and sweet of ya," Jenny smiled. "Mom and Dad would've really appreciated that... Especially since the others kinda forgot about them."

"Except for in that other universe which is pretty much the only way people really seem to remember about them and your aunt." Zofia remarked.

Everyone else murmured in agreement.

"Fair enough," shrugged Martin. "Even though we don't exist in that universe..."

"At least some people acknowledge their show's existence." Jenny added.

"It's better than nothing, right?" Sara smiled.

"Yeah, you're right." Martin smiled back.

And they all had another good laugh. They soon all went to go back home.

* * *

"Mom! Dad!" Ambrose beamed, coming up to his parents. "Did you have a nice mission?"

"Mission? Oh, yeah! It was great," Drell replied innocently. "Met some new people, beat some bad guys, ya know..."

"Well, we had a pretty neat adventure, too!" beamed LJ.

"Comic Strip World, right?" Drell asked.

"Yeah, it was pretty cool." Zofia replied.

"That sounds like fun." Hilda smiled.

"Oh, it sure was!" Sara replied. "We got to meet Garfield and Odie and all of their friends, and we had a huge adventure with all of them!"

"Aw, I'm glad you all managed to have some fun," Hilda smiled before hugging Ambrose tightly. "I missed you so much~"

"Gah! Missed you too, Mom," Ambrose said, struggling a bit at first. "Hey, does anyone know what time it is?"

"5:00, I can get started on dinner." Hilda said, checking her watch.

"Ooh! I gotta go!" Ambrose said before running off inside his house. "Melissa & Joey's gonna start soon!"

"Later, Ambrose!" LJ and Zofia waved.

"Think he'll ever learn?" asked Kimberly.

"Maybe someday." replied Zofia.

"Learn what?" Hilda asked, feeling more clueless than usual.

"Erm... Ambrose's love for Melissa Joan Hart." Zofia said.

"Ohh, yeah..." Drell smirked a bit before winking. "She reminds me of a certain teenage witch I once knew."

"Believe me...we know," LJ replied. "But Ambrose sure doesn't. It feels funny AND squicky at the same time."

"It's better than Caroline Rhea..." Drell replied.

"Oh, I like her! She's so funny." Hilda smiled.

"Hilda, not you too!" Drell groaned.

"She's...alright," LJ shrugged. "But Beth Broderick? She's flat-out awesome! Major respect!"

They all then shared a laugh, though some of the others seemed to miss or understand the inside jokes.

"Well, I better go make dinner for my boys." Hilda smiled on the way back to her home.

"Okay, see you two around!" the Schwartz siblings waved as Hilda and Drell left.

"Pot roast?" Hilda winked to Drell.

"Hey, I'm sorry!" Drell replied. "I thought that would make up for whenever I'm gonna be late for a date."

"You really were different then." Hilda giggled to him.

Drell shrugged. "What can I say?"

Hilda giggled before shutting the door as the kids soon went to get back to their own homes.

* * *

"Another adventure completed," Zofia smiled.

"And who knows what the next one will be like?" added LJ.

"I guess that's one of the best parts, we never really know just yet." Zofia smiled, though shrugged.

"As long as it isn't in South Park, then it's okay by me." LJ replied.

"I'm sure they'll think it over a little." Zofia said before getting a cookie, handing it to him before getting one for herself.

LJ took the cookie, and they both began eating them.

"Maybe we'll see those Ed boys?" Zofia suggested.

"That could be fun," LJ replied. "Halloween IS coming up."

Zofia soon stopped eating her cookie.

"What?" LJ asked.

"How do we know this is a real cookie and not one that Mother poisoned?!" Zofia asked in a panic.

"Sure, she'd do that to some random jerk," replied LJ. "But she'd never stoop as low to do that to her own children! If she DID, she knows we'd despise her for the rest of our lives!"

"Hmm... Yeah... These cookies taste alright so far..." Zofia then said before continuing to eat her cookie.

"Core the pumpkin and come play, Halloween, o'happy day, Halloween o' ha-ppy day~" Cherry sang to herself, coming downstairs with some black and orange decorations. "Have a jolly-olly-hollo-Halloween, Have a jolly-olly-hollo-Halloween, Have a jolly-olly-hollo-Halloween~"

Lionel poofed in. "Well...someone's in a good mood," he remarked. "Could it be due to the days growing closer to a certain All Hallow's Eve...?"

"Maybe?" Cherry smirked innocently, setting down the box. "Hello, babies."

"Erm... Hello, Mother..." Zofia greeted nervously. "You're in a good mood."

Lionel nodded. "Yes, indeed...she always gets like this during October," he replied, before giving a love-struck sigh. "And yet...it just makes her even MORE alluring~"

"How romantic." Zofia smiled to that.

Cherry began to decorate the house out of excitement, singing the Halloween carol that Hilda and Zelda taught her. Lionel went out and joined in with her.

* * *

Zofia soon finished the cookie with a smile. "Ah... Well, I guess it's time to pick out costumes." she then told her brother.

"Alrighty then!" LJ nodded. "That's the best part!"

"Whatya think you wanna be this year?" Zofia grinned to him.

"I was thinking... **DUCK DODGERS OF THE 24TH & 1-1/2 CENTURY!**" LJ replied dramatically.

Zofia blinked before smiling to him. "That kinda suits you," she then said before suggesting her own. "As for me... Either Wednesday Addams or Lenore Lynchfast."

"Oh," LJ nodded. "Well... Alright."

"One of those two..." Zofia replied. "I'll have a think on it tonight when I sleep. I seem to think better after I fall asleep."

"Hmm...good idea," LJ replied. "Feels like everything seems clearer after a good night's sleep."

"Yeah..." Zofia smiled. "Sleep... You ever think we might see Garfield and those Baby Blues kids again though?"

"I'd say it's highly likely," LJ replied. "Though I guess Richard has a little competition now, considering that Shelby kid likes you."

"Mm-hmm..." Zofia gave a soft glance from Shelby's crush on her. "Weird kid."

"Yup," LJ agreed. "Love makes folks do nutty things..."

"Eh, fair enough, I guess." Zofia said as she went to her bed to rest up after a big adventure.

"Night, Sis." LJ said as he went to his own bed as well.

Zofia nodded before turning over, hugging her pillow as she drifted off to sleep with her brother. And so, another adventure had come to an end...but a new one was looming around the corner, what with Halloween's advent approaching.

The End


End file.
